Outsiders don't know the detailed accounts of Jubaozhai, but they only guess that Jubaozhai may have received four to five million taels of silver, but Emperor Wanli knows the exact number! So during this period of time, he was crazy happy, and he was so happy every day! But there was also one thing that made him very unhappy, which even made his mood become depressed day by day. That's when Emperor Wanli learned that there were already 200,000 taels of silver in his books, he issued an order to the Ministry of Industry and asked them to start acquiring land and building a martial arts hall. However, the people from the Ministry of Industry used various excuses to shirk the situation and never took any action!
This reminded Emperor Wanli of what Liu Haojia said to him: "This money is not so easy to get! Your Majesty must resist it! Otherwise, not only will this silver not be kept, I'm afraid you won't even be able to keep the secret recipe of the mirror! What's more important is that , if the civil servants succeed this time, they will be even more arrogant and will intensify their efforts to suppress His Majesty!"
When Emperor Wanli remembered these words, he was already on alert. So when he went to court, he not only began to observe the movements of the courtiers, but also often sent eunuchs to the streets to inquire about some news. During this period, he also sent Zhang Jia out of the palace to meet with Liu Haojia.
Some time ago, Zhang Jia brought back news that Liu Haojia guessed that when the sales of mirrors decline, it will probably be the time for the courtiers to take action! In the past few days, although there are still people going to buy mirrors in Jubaozhai, the number of people has become very rare!
Moreover, the shopkeeper of Jubaozhai went around looking for people to negotiate and wanted to sell the mirrors to other cities through other businessmen, but they were all declined! Emperor Wanli understood that these people were waiting to see if Gu Ningbo's mansion could hold on to the mirror. If they can hold on, they will naturally come to negotiate business; if they cannot hold on, they will negotiate business with their successors, and there will be no loss anyway.
Things were just as Emperor Wanli had guessed. Huge profits triggered huge greed. Many of the courtiers had long been salivating over the huge profits from the mirror! Whether they are civil servants or nobles, they have been estimating the sales volume of mirrors, so that they can decide whether to compete for it based on the sales volume, or how much effort they can put into competing for it!
However, Zhang Juzheng and others who knew the inside story kept silent, so that everyone outside now thought that the mirror was a business of Uncle Gu Ning's house. So Liu Haojia told him that the civil and military officials would use him to attack the Jubaozhai. As for who the Jubaozhai would fall into, it would be up to each of his own abilities! So when Emperor Wanli knew that the sales of mirrors were declining, he knew that something would happen in the court soon!
This made Emperor Wanli extremely anxious! Because he knows how tempting such a large sum of money is! You know, the Ming Dynasty's annual tax revenue was only a few million taels of silver, but Liu Haojia obtained 600,000 taels of silver in two months, which was an astronomical figure at the time! So he was impatient and had to leave the palace again to ask Liu Haojia for advice.
This time Emperor Wanli met Liu Haojia not at his Gu Ningbo's mansion, but at Jubaozhai. Because Emperor Wanli felt that as one of the owners of Jubaozhai, and the big one at that, it was a pity that he had never been to the store once. Naturally, he wanted to take a look around this time.
When Emperor Wanli brought Zhang Jia to Jubaozhai, Liu Haojia was already waiting in front of the door. When he saw that Emperor Wanli was wearing casual clothes, he did not pay homage. He just cupped his hands like a normal friend and led Emperor Wanli into the gate.
After entering the gate, Emperor Wanli looked around curiously and found that there were not many types of products. He could only see a dozen products, and they were all small mirrors. Things like hand mirrors, round mirrors, vanity box mirrors and the like. Each type of mirror has a separate counter display. The concession hall looks very empty.
After reading it, Emperor Wanli curled his lips, feeling that the layout on this floor was a bit shabby. Liu Haojia explained from the side: "Long live my lord, after all, this mirror is just a single object, and there are not many categories that can be developed. Especially the big things are on the second floor, so the first floor seems a little thin!"
Emperor Wanli nodded and said: "I understand, go upstairs and have a look!"
Several people went up to the second floor. Emperor Wanli saw that although there were large mirrors and large items such as dressing tables, they still did not take up much space. This made Emperor Wanli feel a little boring and lost interest.
Liu Haojia knew that his mind was not on Jubaozhai, so he directly led him to the inner clean room. He personally brought tea to Emperor Wanli and the two and said, "Long live Lord, are you here for the sake of money?"
Emperor Wanli said: "After Liu Aiqing talked to me last time, I was very upset! So when I came this time, I wanted to discuss with Liu Aiqing how to keep this money?"
Liu Haojia said: "Long live my lord, we can't keep this money! But we can spend the money so that they can't get it!"
Emperor Wanli became a little anxious when he heard this and said, "All this money has been spent, so what should we use it for? Isn't the martial arts gym closed?"
Liu Haojia said: "Long live Lord, don't be anxious, just listen to Wei Chen and tell you slowly!"
At that moment, Liu Haojia slowly explained his plan. Emperor Wanli couldn't help but burst into tears! Finally, Emperor Wanli patted Liu Haojia's arm and said, "Brother Liu is indeed a genius. He can come up with such an idea! If it happens, I will definitely reward you well!"
Liu Haojia thought to himself, when he has no ideas, he is Liu Aiqing, and when he has ideas, he is Brother Liu. You are also realistic enough! But he still bowed and said: "They are all working for Long Live Lord, and there is no reward at all!"
Emperor Wanli suffered a loss once, so he did not dwell on the issue of rewards again, and said directly: "The day after tomorrow! The day after tomorrow, Brother Liu comes to the palace, and we will take care of this matter!"
Liu Haojia naturally agreed. After getting Liu Haojia's idea, Emperor Wanli was completely satisfied! He stood up and said, "I felt so good after what Brother Liu said, and it also made me feel so bored and unable to sleep these past few days! I'm going back to the palace to catch up on my sleep!"
Seeing what Emperor Wanli said, Liu Haojia hurriedly led the way and sent the master and servant out. After he watched them join the guards and leave, Liu Haojia returned to the room to straighten out the plan again, and found that there were indeed no mistakes before returning to Gu Ningbo's house.
The morning after tomorrow, Liu Haojia arrived early and stood far outside the palace gate. His position was where officials would wait. There was a large group of officials and petty officials at all levels in the surrounding area.
Anyone who can wear an official title in the capital must be over forty, and it is common to be fifty or sixty years old. Even some of the petty officials are younger and must be in their thirties! So Liu Haojia stood among the crowd wearing a bright red robe, which was particularly eye-catching!
