"Brother just said that the court wants our family to purchase grain and rubber from Nanyang, and also wants our family to pay for sugar in advance. Doesn't this mean that our family has spent money to purchase grain and rubber?"
Zheng Zhifeng is quite shrewd. Although he is a pirate, he is not just a brave man. He is still very smart. After listening to his brother's introduction and thinking for a long time, he finally found the strangeness. ∵八∵八∵Read ∵ book, ↗▲o
"Yes, brother, what kind of bad official is this? We asked our family to provide money and food, and we worked so hard, but the court took all the benefits!"
When Zheng Zhifeng said this, Zheng Zhibao also understood and immediately agreed. Whether doing business with Hongyi, Japanese or the imperial court, the Zheng family always only takes advantage and does not suffer losses.
"Stop talking nonsense!"
Zheng Zhilong glared at his fifth brother angrily. Now he was not only a court official, but also a dignified Zhenhai Bo. He almost called him a dog official.
"These affairs are all led by His Highness the Crown Prince. You must not blame yourself. Now the imperial court is very different from before. When I went to have an audience, I saw on the square in front of the palace, copied from the mansion of a greedy man. His gold and silver treasures are piled up like mountains. According to colleagues, they amount to no less than 30 million taels! Taicang is rich and will definitely not default on payment for our transportation. The reporter said, if the court refuses to pay, we will also We will not unload the goods easily. His Highness the Prince said that our family can purchase at least one million stones of grain from Nanyang every year and transport it directly to Tianjin. This can significantly fill the gap in the Jifu area, and all the expenses will be paid in cash. "
On the way back, Zheng Zhilong reviewed all the favorable terms he had received from the capital. He naturally knew whether the imperial court had money or not.
Even if the boxes in the imperial city are all objects deliberately deceiving him, and the contents revealed by his colleagues were planned in advance, it is not necessary for the prince to organize a new army, right?
That was what Zheng Zhilong saw with his own eyes, and this new arrangement was actually able to follow orders and prohibitions, its movements were neat and uniform, and its morale was extremely high. Zheng Zhilong was envious of it.
He also has two personal guards, composed of black slaves and Japanese, both of whom are loyal people. However, the marching in formation is far less pleasing to the eye than the performance of the Prince's East Palace Guards.
In addition, the imperial court also allocated large-scale funds for relief to Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and other places. Including Liaodong's military salary, the new city that was built next to the old city cost more than 10 million taels of silver. So huge.
If there was no money as before, it would be impossible to implement these plans. It was also known to everyone in the capital that dozens of nobles and hundreds of officials had their property confiscated, and Zheng Zhilong was convinced of this.
"Brother! Is what the newspaper said true? The prince even ransacked his own grandfather's house?"
Zheng Zhi'ao hurriedly interjected after hearing this. He had also read the previous issues of the newspaper, especially regarding the prince's order to confiscate the residence of the state leader Zhou Kui. He felt that this matter was almost the annihilation of relatives.
For a child with a yellow mouth, unless it was a palace coup or a mutiny, and he was held hostage, how could he be so cruel as to let the factory guards search for his own grandfather? How embarrassed was this move for the queen? That's the prince's biological mother!
"You all don't know. The prince was taught by Emperor Taizu Gao in the immortal world. When he returned to the human world, he already had the wisdom and state of mind of an adult. I have talked with His Highness the prince for a long time, and I know this very well. Don't judge the prince based on his age. The words and deeds of the prince. When it comes to important matters of the imperial court, the prince speaks clearly and eloquently. I have been traveling in other countries for many years. I think that I am well-informed. I am extremely surprised. The prince's talent and eloquence are even more extraordinary and extraordinary. I agree, from now on, our family must be careful about what we say about the prince, otherwise if it spreads, it will not only damage the reputation, but also make my wife feel ashamed!"
When Zheng Zhilong was in the capital, he talked to a certain prince several times, each time lasting no less than half an hour. The topics involved included military, economic, political affairs, diplomacy, Minsheng and other aspects. The prince knew everything about many things that even Zheng Zhilong didn't know. Chu. 5∞eight 5∞eight 5∞ read 5∞ books, ←o≈
Talking to the prince is equivalent to learning a lot of unknown knowledge. Not only can it increase his knowledge, but it may also be beneficial to his own business. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone. In view of this, Zheng Zhilong happily agreed to let his eldest son go to the capital to become a disciple.
"Brother, if Sen'er goes to the capital, won't he become a hostage? If there is a change between our family and the court, Sen'er will be in danger!"
Zheng Zhifeng was very concerned about the safety of his eldest nephew. The prince accepted Zheng Sen as his disciple. This trick could confuse the public, but for the Zheng family, the risk was obvious.
"Sen'er is already old. If he is selected as a scholar, he will go to the Imperial College to study. The Crown Prince made a predication and has already found Sen'er's secondary assistant Wu Zong as a literary teacher, and the chief of the East Palace Guards Zhou Yuji as a martial arts teacher. If it is so appropriate, how can I do it? Can you refuse? Furthermore, after a hundred years from me, Sen'er will inherit the title of Zhenhai Bo. Taking advantage of the opportunity to go out to study, it is natural to learn some real skills, otherwise it is better to walk on the sea. When I was in Beijing, I have personally watched the military parade hosted by the Crown Prince. The East Palace Guards have only been trained for more than a month, and they have already shown signs of being an elite division. They are not inferior to Qi Shaobao's military training method! If Sen'er is willing to learn a little from the Crown Prince, he will be able to do it in this life. Dealing with a lot of difficult things!"
Zheng Zhilong's first impression of a certain prince was very good, and he did not think that the prince wanted to take his eldest son away from him just to imprison him as a hostage.
Although the prince confiscated the belongings of many nobles, he did not kill them without permission. It's just that his life is not as luxurious as before, so he will still provide some money for the necessary expenses.
Combining the information obtained by Zheng Zhilong privately, it can be understood that although the prince acted violently, he also had a benevolent heart and cared deeply for his subordinates and even his soldiers.
Considering that the rapid changes in the capital came from the knowledge that the prince had gained from the fairy world, Zheng Zhilong planned to let his eldest son learn some personal skills from the prince's side.
After studying like this for ten years, he will definitely be able to be both literary and martial arts, and he will have achieved what he wished for. When he passes away, he can safely entrust the future of his family and the Zheng family's hundreds of thousands of soldiers and family members to him. .
As the prince's disciple, the eldest son has an ironclad secret book. Even if he makes any big mistakes in the future, the whole Zheng family will not be executed.
Although the Zheng family is now extremely prosperous, with more than 100,000 troops, tens of millions of silver in savings, control of the land of Fujian, warships across the ocean, and the momentum to continue to rise, it will be hard to say in a few decades, so Zheng Zhilong has to make plans for the future.
The purpose of letting Zheng Sen study with the prince was actually to preserve the Zheng family business. If it didn't work, it would be better to find a way out in advance, so as to avoid the rapid decline of the Li family after the death of the wealthy businessman Li Dan like his predecessor.
With the lessons learned from the past, Zheng Zhilong made such arrangements. On the one hand, he cooperated with the court and continued his large-scale military and commercial cross-border business. On the other hand, he had to cling to the big tree of the prince. After the prince ascended the throne, his eldest son would be Conglong. Minister.
Zheng Zhilong also had a feeling that from the prince's tone, he seemed to like the eldest son more or less, and he might focus on cultivating him in the future. He couldn't guess why exactly, maybe it was because of his own strength.
But this is at least a good sign, indicating that after the eldest son arrives in Beijing, the situation will not be too difficult. If this path is taken well, then he will have a bright future. Now he is the prince's disciple, and later he will be the emperor's disciple.
Zheng Zhilong is a businessman who values the benefits he can get most. If he exchanges his eldest son for the safety of his family and his soldiers, the deal will be worthwhile, and Zheng Sen will not be in any danger for a while.
"Brother, just think about this matter carefully. Just now, eldest brother said that the prince was inspired by Taizu Emperor Gao, but did he really go to the fairy world?"
Zheng Sen is Zheng Zhibao's nephew. He also loves his eldest brother's eldest son very much, but after all, this is his eldest brother's family matter. The eldest brother decided that it would be inconvenient for him to continue to inquire about the details, so he focused his curiosity on the prince.
"I don't know about this, but this time I went to Beijing, I saw a lot of new things. It was so diverse that it was overwhelming. If the prince had not studied in the immortal world, he probably wouldn't have seen so many new things. Eat,... It can be worn, used, or played with, and it makes me feel a little happy to see it... Oh, yes, I feel so happy that I don’t even miss Shu!"
Arriving in the capital city, Zheng Zhilong, who usually has high eyesight, felt for the first time that he was a bit like a country bumpkin. He was full of curiosity about things he had never seen before, but there were so many new things that he had never seen before. Completely indigestible.
"Oh? Brother, please tell me and let me hear it, it will be fun!"
Zheng Zhibao understood that if his eldest brother Zheng Zhilong thought that something was novel, it must be something that no one had ever seen before, so he was even more eager to know the specific content. After being intrigued by him, everyone became curious and pricked up their ears, intending to listen. .
"You must have read the newspaper and seen the bicycles. By the way, there is also a car. This time I went to Beijing, I bought fifty-five of them, one for each of you here!"
After being pestered by everyone, Zheng Zhilong finally remembered about the rickshaw. This car is not as easy to wear and tear as a bicycle, and can also replace horses. It is the most exquisite invention of the prince.
After that, Zheng Zhilong sent people to carry the rickshaw into the yard. Because there was a high threshold, it had to be carried by people. The soldiers were all gasping for breath from exhaustion.
"Brother! How do you ride this bike?"
Zheng Zhi'ao hadn't forgotten about the bicycle just now, so he had to be careful now. If he damaged another one, he might not be able to ride anymore.
"This car is made for use. It is pulled by human power. It is more comfortable than riding a horse and cheaper than riding in a sedan chair!"
Seeing that everyone was still a little confused, Zheng Zhilong got on the rickshaw and asked a strong soldier to be the driver in front, and drove around the yard, feeling very proud.
"Oh oh oh~! That's it, wonderful! Wonderful~!"
Everyone unanimously praised it. It was very comfortable to sit on this car and enjoy the view. After they were so impressed, everyone rushed to try it out and wished that three people could get on it at a time.
Zheng Zhilong almost bought up all the new cars just made by the car factory in one go, and ordered as many as 500 cars for the use of the generals' women's families.
"Brother, this thing is very good. It may be shipped to Japan and Nanyang to make money!"
Zheng Zhifeng saw the business opportunity at a glance. If the cost was low, he could manufacture it in large quantities and ship it across from various ports in Fujian, making real money from outsiders.
"What the fourth brother said is true. The prince has already thought of it. He said that for a royalty of five taels of silver per car, our family can produce it by ourselves and settle the bill once a month."
In terms of business development, Zheng Zhilong met an expert. He heard many eye-opening methods from the prince. If he had the opportunity, he would go to Beijing again to ask the prince for advice.
"Royalties?"
Zheng Zhifeng was very unfamiliar with this word and repeated it deliberately.
"However, this car was created by the Crown Prince, and the manufacturing rights naturally belong to the Crown Prince. If our family wants to imitate it, we must pay the Crown Prince. This car is divided into three grades in the capital, low-grade Thirty taels for one car, fifty taels for a mid-range car, and eighty taels for a high-end car. The prince is also a cheerful person. No matter how many cars we make by ourselves, regardless of grade, we will pay a royalty of five taels of silver for each car, and it will be shipped to If you sell it overseas, you can set your own price, and the bulk of it will naturally fall into our pockets.”
For any profitable business, Zheng Zhilong will keep it in mind. Whether to do it or not depends on whether it is profitable or not, and whether it is convenient. The rickshaw is a new thing. Not to mention saving livestock, it is not too complicated to make. Quite a good deal.
If the Zheng family manufactures 100,000 rickshaws and sells them to surrounding countries and Hongyi, and earns ten taels of silver per vehicle, the total will be as high as one million taels, which is twice as high as the royalties paid to the prince. If the price is The higher it is, the greater the profit will be.
"I see, then if our family can manufacture tens of thousands of these cars by ourselves, wouldn't it be enough to give the prince a thousand, eight hundred taels of silver?"
Affected by the Zheng family's blatant failure to pay taxes, Zheng Zhifeng also believed that there was no need to pay the full amount of patent fees to a certain prince. This was just a name. Fu Jian was far away from the capital, and the prince was beyond the reach of this place. The Zheng family was just a prince. .
"Stingy! From now on, all business dealings with the prince and the court must be kept in the open and accounted for. You are not allowed to withhold money on your own. As long as our family makes the prince happy, why don't we worry about not making any money? Prince He also said that our shipping capacity has not been maximized, and there is still a lot of potential to be tapped. He will ask the court to issue an order to urge merchants from all over the coast to provide us with more local products for export trade. The prince plans Following the example of the Southern Song Dynasty, we will focus on developing overseas trade, aiming to increase the annual trade volume to hundreds of millions of taels in the next few years. Think about how much money our family, as a maritime overlord, can earn from this?"
Zheng Zhilong was shocked when he heard about a certain prince's plan to revitalize the economy and make the country rich and strong.
One hundred million taels per year!
He was stunned for a long time!
Even if they get 10% of the profits, they can pocket a huge amount of 10 million taels every year.
As the largest and only local overseas maritime merchant in the region, this is a goal that is very likely to be achieved.
Zheng Zhilong was very excited when he heard this, and judging from the many inventions and creations of the prince, this is very likely to become a reality.
Although a large part of it was barter trade, such as exchanging silk, porcelain, tea and other items for grain, rubber, spices and other goods from Nanyang.
But Zheng Zhilong heard from Zhang Guowei that the imperial court had begun digging gold mines on a large scale in the Shandong area. Soon, the gold mine alone would be able to earn nearly ten million taels of silver per year.
Now that the imperial court has money, it can naturally use cash to purchase the Nanyang goods in Zheng's hands. It will definitely not be as cash-strapped as before.
"Oh my God! It's really incredible! The prince has great ambitions!"
After listening to her brother's words, Zheng Zhifeng instantly had a new understanding of a certain prince. 11
