Chapter 192
Cheng Shijie had a headache. He had no cash in hand. It didn't mean that he had no money, but the money was all in southern Liaoning, so it would be difficult to transfer it.
When heading to the capital, it wasn't that Cheng Shijie didn't want to bring more money, but the key issue was that Ning Haijun was still in its infancy, especially in the newly expanded areas of Guangning, Liaozhong and Liaoyang, which required a lot of investment.
Doing business in industry is different from doing business in finance. Finance comes in quickly, but doing business in industry, whether it’s agriculture or industry, is like this: high investment, slow returns, and no rush. However, southern Liaoning has had a bumper harvest of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn this year. Because the prospects are good, factories in southern Liaoning are blooming everywhere.
What makes Cheng Shijie a little dissatisfied is that the industrialization of nitric acid has not yielded much results so far. He has invested six to seven hundred thousand taels of silver there, but the results can only be described as disastrous. He can only produce less than eight thousand kilograms per month. Nitric acid!
Cheng Shijie was completely dumbfounded. You must know that he threw more than six to seven hundred thousand taels of silver into the nitric acid plant, and what he got in return was this little nitric acid?
Nitric acid is an important chemical raw material. It can be called industrial blood. It can be used in industry to make chemical fertilizers, pesticides, explosives, dyes, etc.
Although Cheng Shijie knew that in 1905, a factory for producing nitric acid by arc method appeared in Norway, which was the earliest attempt to industrialize nitric acid in history. Cheng Shijie cannot learn this method. First, there must be electricity. In the field of electricity, Liaonan has not yet tried to conduct research.
"Nitric acid..."
Thinking of this thing, I covered my head with a headache. If you want to achieve high food yields, you definitely cannot do without chemical fertilizers. Without nitric acid, you cannot make chemical fertilizers. Just like phosphate fertilizers, agricultural production is indispensable.
But the problem is that there are only two production processes for phosphate fertilizer: thermal method and acid method. Under the current conditions, it is impossible for Cheng Shijie to meet the conditions for thermal production and can only use nitric acid processing.
The production of nitric acid cannot be increased, and Cheng Shijie doesn't know what to do. If he wants to produce powerful nitrocellulose, he must be inseparable from nitric acid. However, with such a small amount of production, it can barely be used to make large quantities of nitrocellulose. Training, if it is a big battle, requires a certain amount of time to accumulate
Where is enough? Especially for the production of chemical fertilizers, let alone 8,000 jins a month, even 80,000 jins a day is actually not enough.
In Zheng Qi's view, Cheng Shijie's input and output are simply not proportional!
Zheng Qi asked very puzzledly: "My lord, why do you have to spend so much money to get nitric acid? That thing can't be sold, and it can destroy gold and stone. It's too dangerous. You got such a dangerous thing." what?"
"You'll know later!"
Zheng Qi shook his head and said: "My lord, you are... really... no one is spending money like you! Take a look, there are more than one hundred and sixty items, and there are places to spend money everywhere. If you hadn't made money Come on, you've been bankrupt a long time ago, but the way you spend it, it's really..."
"What is it really?"
"What a prodigal, even if I am a prodigal, he is not as prodigal as you!"
Zheng Qi has now entered the role of Mr. Accountant and pointed out Cheng Shijie's problem with spending money: "Nitric acid is not very useful, just a little bit is enough. There is no need for such a large investment. There are also ready-made firecrackers and artillery, Ning Haijun's firecrackers and artillery are already unparalleled in the world. You just leave what you have ready-made and don’t use it, but you have to..."
Zheng Qi was still very afraid of Cheng Shijie. As long as Cheng Shijie looked at him with sharp eyes, she would be too frightened to speak.
"It has been more than a year since last year. I have been working on breech-loading muskets and breech-loading artillery. As a result, I have spent so much time and more than four million taels of silver in it, and I haven't even made a profit!"
Zheng Qi looked at Cheng Shijie and said seriously: "Don't you think you have too much money!?"
Cheng Shijie looked at the column of scientific research expenses and sighed in frustration...
In fact, what Zheng Qi said is not comprehensive. More than four million taels of silver were invested, and some achieved results, and they were very significant, like the breech-loaded smoothbore cannon. This was progress across the ages.
There are also explosive shells, which are different from the explosive shells of the Crouching Tiger Cannon. The explosive shells of the Crouching Tiger Cannon can actually be regarded as a two-kicking kick. It is similar to the firing of the Thunder Cannon. It is a paper tube, packed with two Part of it is used as propellant and part of it is used as explosive part.
But the problem is that there are too many problems with the Crouching Tiger Cannon. First of all, the range is uncontrollable. How far it can hit depends on your mood, when it explodes, and luck.
However, the three-inch cannon is different. The principle and operation method of the breech-mounted smoothbore cannon of the three-inch cannon already belong to the artillery category of later generations. Europe did not invent this kind of similar artillery until the 19th century. Now it is at least two hundred years ahead of Europe. .
But the problem was that he had been working on the research and development project of the breech-loading rifled rifle for a whole year and spent seven to eight hundred thousand taels of silver, but he didn't even get a single success.
Engaging in scientific research has never been an easy task. Every little bit of progress is made with real money, and often astronomical amounts of money, manpower and material resources are invested, but in the end nothing is gained.
This is the reason why modern Chinese companies have not been very willing to engage in scientific research and innovation for a long time. The investment is too great, and hundreds of millions were spent to develop new technologies. As a result, competitors only spent a few million to replace a few core engineers. Who would be willing to engage in scientific research if they were poached and produced the exact same product without any effort, which made them cry without tears?
They all stared with wide eyes to see who had come up with new technology, and then went to poach people. Now he has to make the transition from front-loading smoothbore muskets to breech-loading rifled guns and rifled cannons in one step. Materials, technology, and design concepts all have to be overthrown. Let alone a year, it may not be possible to see it in a few years. Results.
Gao Qiqian returned to the palace, saw Cao Huachun, and accidentally mentioned that Cheng Shijie was short of money and he was willing to pay high interest. If he had money, he could make a fortune.
Although Cao Huachun was rich, how could he dare to show it? Who doesn't understand the principle of not showing off wealth? Wang Zhixin almost emptied his family fortune. Gao Qiqian worked hard for so many years and tried his best to make money. In the end, he returned to before liberation overnight.
Cao Huachun reported the matter to Emperor Chongzhen.
Emperor Chongzhen was slightly startled: "Cheng Qing has no money?"
"Oh, Your Majesty, you don't know something. For every soldier of Ning Haijun killed in battle, Duke Hai will give them twenty taels of silver and one hundred acres of land. Otherwise, those big soldiers of Ning Haijun, How could you work so hard! What’s more…”
"Not to mention what?"
"What's more, the Duke of Haiguo is getting married soon. There are too many places to spend money!"
Emperor Chongzhen sighed and said, "How much money does my concubine have?"
"Replying to your majesty, I only have two hundred and eight thousand taels of silver left!"
"That's it?"
Emperor Chongzhen looked surprised.
Cao Huachun said: "His Majesty said that the money given to the army and meritorious officers was born..."
"well!"
Emperor Chongzhen smiled bitterly and said: "I can't watch Cheng Qing have no money to use and have to borrow money everywhere. In this way, you will transfer 20,000 from your concubine... no, 40,000 taels of silver to Cheng Qing!"
"This is..."
Before Cao Huachun could say the words "not allowed", Emperor Chongzhen continued: "In addition, you can bring five hundred craftsmen over to repair Cheng Qing's house!"
Although Chongzhen did not give Cheng Shijie a house in the capital, Emperor Chongzhen gave Cheng Shijie two imperial mansions in Daxing County, about forty miles away from the capital.
The total area of the two imperial estates is about 1,300 acres, which is not too large. Cheng Shijie's Haiguogong Mansion was built on the imperial estate, with a total of more than 150 rooms. There are gardens, horse farms, and swimming pools in the estate. , warehouses, martial arts arena and other leisure facilities, including the area of the mansion, it is almost more than 1,400 acres of land, close to 1,500 acres.
It's just that Cheng Shijie hasn't had time to see this house yet. He just looked at it on the map. It belongs to the countryside now, but in later generations, it will belong to Fengtai District, one of the six main urban areas in the capital.
Even though it is in Daxing County, it is at the foot of the emperor. The value of each acre of land is more than three times more than the best paddy fields in Jiangnan. It is a full thirty-seven or eighty taels of silver per acre. If you buy land, you want to rely on it. Even if you cultivate the land for a hundred years, you will not be able to get back your roots.
This is not fertile farmland, just dry farmland, and now Beizhili is experiencing drought every year, with nine droughts in ten years, and poor farmland that may not be able to recover its original value in a hundred years. It is still priced but has no market, and no one is willing to sell it.
Different from the habits of later generations, in the Ming Dynasty, if you sold your house or land, it was a sign that your family was ruined.
"Meet the Duke!"
"Ouch, what kind of wind has brought Eunuch Cao here!"
"Dong Hai is out of town, and our family is just running errands. His Majesty heard that Duke Hai has some money, so he asked our family to send money to him!"
While Cao Huachun was talking, Sun Zhidan came to Cheng Mansion with a huge motorcade.
"Yongyan, what are you..."
"My grandfather learned that the commander was short of money, so he asked Yongyan to send him some. Although the Sun family has a big business, there are many people eating, so..."
Sun Zhilan placed a gift list in front of Cheng Shijie. Cheng Shijie took a quick look and found three hundred pieces of cloth, two hundred pieces of silk, and six thousand taels of silver ingots. Together with other belongings, there were about twenty thousand taels of silver.
"What should I do?"
"Commander, don't be polite, we are a family!"
Cheng Shijie knew that in the Ming Dynasty, unlike later generations, since he worshiped Sun Chengzong as his teacher, and the teacher was like his father, Cheng Shijie accepted it without any courtesy.
Then, when Cheng Shijie was seeing Cao Huachun off, he saw a middle-aged man wearing a long gown riding a horse, followed by more than a dozen carts.
He smiled from afar and said, "I pay my respects to Duke Hai!"
He said he was going to pay homage to Duke Hai, but he didn't mean to do so at all. Cheng Shijie knew that this person was Xu Guangqi's close confidant named Gu Sicheng.
It is said that there are seven rank officials under the prime minister. Although Xu Guangqi is not the prime minister, but a junior minister in the cabinet, and his disciple and confidant, Gu Sicheng, although he is a servant, he has seen many high-ranking officials and dignitaries, so he naturally has his own airs.
"Why bother sir, sir, please come in!"
"I won't go in, the master is still waiting for a reply!"
Gu Sicheng got off his horse and bowed to Cheng Shijie: "Congratulations to Duke Hai on his wedding in advance. I am not in good health, so I have to go back and take care of him!"
Gao Qi lurked to Cao Huachun and told him that Cheng Shijie was short of money. Emperor Chongzhen, a big boss, took the money from his concubine to the Cheng Mansion. In fact, all the civil and military officials in the capital knew about it. In fact, Emperor Chongzhen's Forbidden City was just a sieve.
In any case, Cheng Shijie was a new member of the dynasty, with an official position and a minor security guard. Those who should give gifts must give gifts. After Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi sent people to the Cheng Mansion, countless officials came one after another.
Some were carrying carts, pulling silk and satin, and some were carrying money. Of course, there were also honest officials from the court. They were actually from the Qingshui Yamen, which was poor and had no money. They wanted to be corrupt, but they just didn’t have the chance. These people In desperation, I had no choice but to write some calligraphy or paintings and come to visit in person.
Wen Tiren, the first minister of the court, wanted to eat Cheng Shijie, but at this time, he still had to bite the bullet and had someone send Cheng Shijie a congratulatory gift of 8,000 taels of silver.
Nothing more, nothing less, just in line with his status as chief assistant.
As the saying goes, if you are poor in the busy city, no one will care about you, but if you are rich in the mountains, you will have distant relatives.
Today, Cheng Shijie is no longer the small Qianhu who returned to Dengzhou with a group of beggar-like soldiers. Today, he has tens of thousands of elite soldiers, rich sources of wealth, and is even more appreciated by Emperor Chongzhen. He is a quasi-consort. The Governor of Liaodong, Prince Shaobao, such a figure, how can I not go and curry favor with him! The most important thing is to see if we can win over this powerful group that is rising extremely rapidly.
Besides, there are countless businessmen who plan to negotiate a business deal with Cheng Shijie to see if they can introduce potato and sweet potato seeds from southern Liaoning...
The happiest person at this time is not Cheng Shijie, but Cheng Shijie's accountant, Zheng Qi.
She was dressed in men's clothing and was received at the concierge. The property she received was recorded. In just half a day, she collected tens of thousands of taels of silver.
Originally Cheng Shijie wanted to borrow money, but now he doesn't need to borrow money anymore.
In fact, the officers and soldiers of Ning Haijun were also very happy, and the backbone of Ninghai Group were also very happy. Thank God, their commander-in-chief is finally getting married!
The most important thing for the Chinese people is inheritance. After the father dies, the son succeeds. No matter how talented a childless person is, it is difficult to reassure his subordinates. Cheng Shijie has made everyone live a good life, and everyone is grateful. Yu was also a little worried, afraid that he would leave.
Now he's fine, he's going to start a family in the capital and take root! Admiral Ning Haijun was chattering away, while the accountant was banging his abacus on the side to see how much money he could spend to make a decent gift...
This is not Cheng Shijie's first marriage, but he is not as busy as when he married Xiang Hui. Now he basically doesn't have to take care of anything. Officials from the Ministry of Etiquette are taking care of the wedding ceremony, and he can discuss all the big and small things by himself. He really can't decide. If you have an idea, go to Concubine Li Kang or Queen Zhou.
Cheng Shijie was very reluctant: "This... what does this mean? How can the woman be responsible for organizing the marriage? Isn't this considered a wife-in-law?"
Sun Zhidao smiled so hard that he almost lost his temper: "The commander-in-chief, the prince-in-law, the emperor's son-in-law, he himself is the bride-in-law!"
PS: I wrote it down.
(End of chapter)
