Li Shu was too busy to keep his feet on the ground, but soon someone came to recommend him:
Li Ping is here.
After Li Ping finished shopping in Shengjing and had nothing to do at home, he wanted to come to the shop to help.
Her son Zhuang Fang is only a young scholar now, but with Zhuang Wen, Li Qiao, Meng Yue, and Xu Ying, it is not difficult to stay in Beijing.
But the housing prices in Shengjing are really expensive. As a seventh-rank official, Meng Yue can't afford to buy a house. It's even more impossible for a young scholar in Zhuangfang to buy a house.
She had to go out to work and save more money.
Li Ping was willing to help in the shop, and Tao Zhu was naturally very happy. With Li Ping's help, more fried foods were sold every day.
For a time, the fried chicken shop became the most popular shop in Shengjing.
Even Sheng Hong heard about it and sent someone to buy a portion. When he came back and tasted it, he found it really crispy and not greasy.
So the next day, when Li Qiao was sitting behind the screen to review the memorial, he curiously asked Li Qiao: "Li Aiqing, how do you make the chicken in your new shop not greasy even after rolling it around in the oil pan?"
As soon as he said this, Li Qiao hurriedly put down the brush in his hand, walked around from behind the screen, and respectfully replied: "If you go back to the Holy Spirit, it should be the layer of fried powder wrapped outside. This fried powder is specially made by Weichen, and is made of flour. , starch, and yeast are mixed.”
"In addition, there is a kind of fried powder, which Weichen named bread crumbs. The bread is sliced, dried and ground into powder."
"Relying on these two kinds of flour, the chicken in Weichen's shop will be crispy and not greasy."
"Oh...that's how it is."
Sheng Hong suddenly understood, and then laughed: "Li Aiqing, your talent in eating is really amazing. Before you appeared, I never thought that snacks could bring such great benefits."
Hearing this, Li Qiao smiled slightly: "Food is the most important thing for the people. The poor people want to have enough to eat, and the rich people want to eat well. They always focus on eating."
"We have a prosperous people and a prosperous country. As long as the food tastes good enough, we won't have to worry about making money."
"you're right."
Sheng Hong nodded.
No, who would have thought that his father, the majestic founding emperor, actually loved desserts.
His father and emperor were like this, let alone ordinary people.
The branch of Royal Dim Sum Shop in Jiangnan has been opened.
Jiangnan is rich, and the number of wealthy people is not inferior to that of Shengjing. No matter which branch it is in, business is as hot as Shengjing.
There are now eight Royal Dessert Shops, and the revenue of these eight stores last month reached a huge 800,000 yuan.
Eight hundred thousand!
Still a month!
After this year, that will be 10 million taels, which is equivalent to one-third of the annual revenue of the national treasury.
Who knew snacks could be so profitable?
Who would have thought!
This greatly eased his financial pressure.
For example, now, the stucco has passed the test of time, exposure, and rain, but he is in no rush to cash in on it.
Although many people in the city want to buy the stucco, he has no plans to sell it at the moment.
He wanted to build official roads and canals first.
If plaster is used on the Grand Canal, the quality of the Grand Canal will definitely be improved by several percent.
Therefore, he praised Li Qiao a few more words, and then talked about his plan.
"This canal has been built in Jibei Province. In my opinion, the embankment must be plastered with a layer of plaster to make it strong."
"There was no plaster before. Now we need to put on an extra layer of plaster, which will definitely cost more money. The treasury is empty, and the extra money will have to be borne by those who grab the pier."
"Let's do this. All the people with docks will come to the palace tomorrow. I will sell the plaster prescriptions to these people. As long as they pay this amount, in the future, if the canal needs more plaster, it will be borne by the national treasury. . And if they get the plaster recipe, they can use the plaster on their own homes. No matter how many houses they build or how many roads they use, I don’t care. I just let them do whatever they want."
“But it must not be sold for profit.”
"what do you think?"
Li Qiao was stunned when he heard this, and then nodded: "If an extra layer of mortar is added, the embankment will definitely be stronger. I have no objection."
"Then it's decided."
Sheng Hong smiled with satisfaction.
He didn't ask for much. If each family paid fifty thousand taels of silver, they could take away the plaster prescription.
Fifty thousand taels of silver to buy one once and for all and toss it around at will. This price is really a bargain.
Of all the successful bidders, who is not extremely wealthy?
Who doesn’t have a Zhuangzi Garden?
This kind of big project will definitely use mortar in the future. He only offers 50,000 taels now. He is really too generous.
Sheng Hong felt generous, but Li Qiao felt that Sheng Hong had a good way of making money. Just this recipe, selling it for 50,000 taels?
So how much cement do these people have to make to earn back the 50,000 taels...
Fortunately, he was the "inventor" of cement, so he didn't need to pay the 50,000 taels of silver.
The other families understood that Sheng Hong was giving them a notice, not discussing with them. No matter what they thought in their hearts, they all happily paid 50,000 taels of silver.
Relying on cement, Sheng Hong easily made nearly one million taels of silver into the national treasury. This money was easier to earn than to rob a house.
He would have to go to war to confiscate his house, but this time he just opened his mouth.
Sheng Hong had never made money so quickly and easily. When he was in a good mood, he waved his hand and rewarded Li Qiao with a Zhuangzi.
This village is quite large, covering a hundred acres, but it is a bit far from Shengjing. It is seventy miles due north of the capital, but it is full of first-class fields.
This Zhuangzi originally belonged to the Peng family. After the Peng family was destroyed, it was taken back to the state treasury. Now it is planted with sweet potatoes and corn.
The autumn harvest is coming soon, and these 100 acres of sweet potatoes and corn will naturally belong to Li Qiao.
Li Qiao was very calm when he suddenly got a hundred acres of land. As a big landowner with ten thousand acres of land, this hundred acres of land could no longer make waves in his heart.
But when he returned home and talked about it with his family at the dinner table, Li Liang, Wang Guihua, Li Shu, Zheng Tuhu and others were all very happy.
One hundred acres of first-class farmland in Shengjing is all a waste of money!
"Xiaoqiao, it's really hard for you and Brother Zhu. The family fortune in Shengjing is no less than that in Pingcheng."
Li Liang deeply felt the difficulties faced by Li Qiao and Tao Zhu. From time to time, the family's property was added to, but the couple did not have time to take a real look!
It's too awful.
He said to Li Qiao: "Don't worry, your sister-in-law and I will go to this farm tomorrow to look at the sweet potatoes and corn."
"Don't worry, let's go together while I take a rest. It's seventy miles away from Shengjing, which is quite far."
Li Qiao disagreed with his proposal.
"What's seventy miles far away? At worst, if we live there for two days, and your family members are following us, can your sister-in-law and I be left behind?"
Li Liang was very insistent.
One hundred acres of sweet potatoes and corn is a mountain of food.
He couldn't wait.
Moreover, there was no vermicelli maker in Shengjing, so he wanted to open a vermicelli workshop.
Of course, he won't affect the vermicelli business in Pingcheng. He just plans to keep it for his family to eat and supply it to hot pot restaurants.
There is no vermicelli dish in hot pot shops now. If they add vermicelli, the business will definitely be better.
"Yes, tomorrow your eldest brother and I will go see how the sweet potato and corn harvests are going." Wang Guihua also said.
Butcher Zheng on the side also agreed. If you don't take a look at it, you will definitely not be able to sleep that night.
"...Okay, I'll send a few more people to follow."
Li Qiao could only say this.
However, he was really worried about letting Li Liang and Wang Guihua spend the night outside.
But according to the nature of these two people, when the farming days are busy, they must stay in the fields to supervise, lest the tenants secretly steal the grain.
Since the distance cannot be shortened, the only option is to build roads.
The next day, after Sheng Hong finished his work, he told Sheng Hong his plan: "Wei Chen wants to build a path leading to his farm to facilitate travel."
"You spent money to repair it yourself?" Sheng Hong asked.
"Yes. These small roads were built to facilitate Weichen's family's travel, so it was naturally Weichen's money."
"Okay, let's practice it. You can practice it as you like."
Sheng Hong agreed readily.
It's not just Li Aiqing's family walking this road, anyone can walk this road.
What a good minister, for the sake of his own family, it is convenient for thousands of families. If Da Sheng's ministers are so generous, then it will be much easier for him as an emperor.
So Li Qiao prepared to build the road.
Tao Zhu then sent people to the homes of the lower class people who were in urgent need of work and asked them if they were willing to do the job of building roads.
Because there are many roads to be built, more manpower is needed, but no matter which family they are, as long as Tao Zhu sends people to ask, these families are willing.
Eighty cents a day, no matter what you eat, this kind of good job doesn't come often, Mr. Li is so generous!
The people responded positively, and Tao Zhu quickly recruited enough manpower, so these roads were built. Every road leading to his village was paved with cement.
It took a month to build all these roads.
Clean and flat, the time it takes to get to my village has been shortened by half, and the comfort on the road has also been greatly improved.
Tao Zhu was finally able to take the three little guys for a walk in their own fields.
Although vegetables are grown in my own yard and livestock are raised, and the three little guys are not inseparable from the grains, the vegetables are not as good as crops after all.
Li Qiao and Tao Zhu hope that the three little guys will have more contact with the fields and the common people. Regardless of whether they will be officials or businessmen in the future, they must have a lot of life accumulation and know the sufferings of the world.
It was already late autumn and the weather was cold.
