"How widespread is this news now?" Dmitri helped him analyze it: "If not many people know about it, we can still think of some ways."
But Tuo Huan frowned, thought for a moment, and turned to ask Guo Kang: "Do we really need to keep it secret?"
"Ah?" Guo Kang didn't know what he was thinking.
"The Venetians can keep it secret because they are not big. It's just an island. Of course it's easy to keep it secret." Tuohuan reminded him: "But didn't you tell me before that our idea is to mobilize more people for research and production? The more people involved, the easier it is to make improvements and breakthroughs?”
"We have a huge demand for all kinds of glass, so we must open a lot of workshops. With so many people involved, keeping it secret is impossible." He shook his head and said, "Moreover, we have a larger number of slaves. They may not understand anything, but if someone asks them about the various situations they saw, it is easy to deduce many details. Slaves will inevitably escape here, so this information will be leaked sooner or later. "
"If you ask me, just do what these measures can do, and don't force anything else. Our biggest advantage over Venice is that we have so many people. Even if they learn it, with our output, we can easily overwhelm them. .”
"In order to make profits, their factories have to join our workshop system, and their chambers of commerce can only obey our instructions. We don't even need to compete with them. When the time comes, they will beg us to help them cooperate."
"So, brother, you don't have to worry about the publicity you should promote and the lectures you should give." He patted Guo Kang on the shoulder and said: "Compared with controlling the spread of technology, it is more important to control money and sabers. Stable."
Guo Kang thought for a while and felt that it did make sense, so he nodded.
Although Tuohuan looks unsettling, it is still reliable at critical moments.
Moreover, unlike the royal education in the Central Plains, the grassland Khan's court attached great importance to the cultivation of business capabilities. Being able to do business can be said to be an essential skill for a qualified Khan. Even someone from a wild background like Zi Zhang was no exception. Due to the special location, the importance of commerce is even stronger.
The Khan's court has internal and external treasury, and a large part of the internal treasury is the workshop industry accumulated by the Khans of the past dynasties, and the caravans directly under the Khan's family. Most of the huge profits generated by these industries every year are used to fund public facilities and welfare projects, as well as to provide additional rewards to meritorious deeds. In fact, this is how the Borginus family maintains the legitimacy of their rule. One of the important ways.
So thinking about it this way, it seems normal to study these things.
"The matter of the mirror may need to be kept secret for a while now." Tuohuan was still thinking: "It will take time to select and build the location of our workshop. Once this period of time passes, it will not be a big problem."
"Of course, I'm not afraid of everyone leaking it." He added: "The people doing research here are all devout theologians and philosophers. What about Venice? They are all businessmen. I believe that compared to It's easier for us to bribe them."
"Oh, yes, there's more." He remembered something: "Last time I sent out a batch of mirrors, who did you give them to?"
"They are acquaintances and sponsors." Guo Kang said: "My mother, my sister, your mother, your sister, Li Xuanying's two sisters, Li Anning and her cousin... Well, I will go back and look at the list. Anyway, let's All my acquaintances, except 'Shi Zetian', gave it to me."
"Actually, it's okay to give it to her." Tuohuan thought for a while and said, "After all, she is a member of the Shi family. Unless there is a public fallout and it is announced that she is no longer a member of the family, she will still be given what should be given. As for what they think, then It's their business, we have nothing to do with it, just follow common sense."
"It's not that I didn't give it, it's that she said she didn't want it." Guo Kang corrected.
"Ah?" Tuohuan looked surprised.
"She thinks it's too girly and doesn't want it. She also said that this kind of family gift is meaningless. In the future, she will get something better by herself and ask me to exchange it." Guo Kang said, dumbfounded.
"This is the first time I've seen a girl who doesn't like this mirror." Tuo Huan showed a look of giving up: "Forget it, just pretend I didn't say anything and leave her alone."
"But isn't this great?" Dmitri began to quote the theories of the sages again: "Plato believes that if a woman's soul is the same as a man's, then she will be perfect. From a philosophical point of view, this kind of woman is He is the perfect person.”
"Do these Greeks stare at their brothers every day and want women to treat them as their brothers?" Tuohuan said in confusion.
"This is philosophy." Another monk also came to help, trying to reason with him.
Guo Kang hurriedly stepped forward and said that there was still business to do, and finally got them to stop discussing.
"Go ahead and continue talking." Tuo Huan said to Guo Kang, "Who else is there?"
"Then there is the sponsor from last time." Guo Kang told him: "The representative of the church is Master Wang, which is no problem; the donation from the Khan's Court was given by you, which is no problem. Dean John raised part of it, and this is also Our own people.”
"In addition, there are donations from some businessmen. A few wealthy Greek businessmen raised funds and donated a sum, but they only hope to obtain the right to sell products in the future and have little interest in technology, so there is no problem."
"If there is anything else...Joanna Beach also came to donate a sum, she is the daughter of Ms. Maria from Hungary." Guo Kang explained: "You may not be familiar with her, but her family knows my adoptive father. I guess it’s because of this connection that I came to help.”
"Oh, the Italian who opened the bank, right?" Tuo Huan thought for a while and said.
"Yes. I asked specifically before." Guo Kang nodded: "Her father's name is Giovanni di Bicchi, and he is a run-down nobleman from Florence."
"At that time, there were sharp conflicts in Florence, and the big nobles, the small nobles and the lower class citizens were fighting each other seriously. Giovanni's cousin was a representative of the small nobles and played a major role in helping to suppress the carding workers' rebellion, thereby taking control of the city. Power. But it didn't last long, and he was overthrown not long after."
"Is it because the citizens don't like him?" Dmitri asked.
"No." Guo Kang said: "It was the nobles who came to their senses and realized that this man wanted to affect their power, so they killed the donkey and drove him away."
"so……"
"Yes, anyway, after he lost power, the whole family had no choice but to run away. After Giovanni was implicated, he did not dare to get involved in the political situation in Florence, so he did some business among various city-states. Later, in order to import goods, he When he came to our place again, while walking up and down, he met Maria,” Guo Kang continued.
"It's probably because both of them were depressed and had no choice but to leave their homeland, so they had something in common. In short, they finally decided to get married. The Khan's court thought this was fine, so they didn't care."
"A few years ago, Giovanni's bank sponsored the return of the Bishop of Rome, and he made the right bet, so he made a fortune. He took his son back to Italy. This daughter... seems to have traveled around before, and came back last year Accompany my mother and run the business here."
"Anyway, this guy is quite rich." Guo Kang said, "As I told you before, she was the one who donated a Tianxiong antenna."
(End of chapter)
