Although it was the Little Ice Age, Shandong also thawed in February.
The business invitations Zuo Menggen sent out finally began to be reciprocated.
"Young Hou Cheng comes from Guide. This is a share of gold. Please accept it, Master Zuo."
The first person to arrive was the shopkeeper of Hou Xun's family, and he brought one hundred thousand taels of silver. In addition to holding shares in glass, it also has distribution rights in a province in Henan.
"Little Cao Xuan is from Nanyang."
The second person to arrive represents Cao Wenheng.
Although he and Hou Xun are both from Henan, Cao Wenheng is not seeking the distribution rights in Henan.
His ambition was even greater, and he spent a full two hundred thousand taels of silver. The insufficient part will be replaced with the minerals and materials Zuo Menggen needs.
What Cao Wenheng wants is the right to sell glass in Huguang and Guangdong and Guangxi.
Anyway, they are all areas that cannot be affected at present, so Zuo Mengeng has no reason not to agree.
People from Liu Zongzhou's family also came, with a share capital of one hundred thousand taels, and they were asking for the right to sell glass in Zhejiang and Fujian.
Wang Weiran, whom Zuo Mengeng looked forward to the most, finally brought what he needed ten days after the canal was opened.
The huge fleet sailed through the Yellow River and entered the canal. They did not enter the customs at Linqing, but stopped in the wild in the middle of the night.
The whole army from the rear camp was mobilized and worked all night long before transporting all the iron materials and coal back to Zuozhuang.
"Brother Wang's kindness is unforgettable to Zuo. But there is one more thing. I hope Brother Wang can help."
What Wang Weiran wants to see most now is glass.
After he brought the sample back to Shanxi, everyone in the family went crazy. He was ordered to invest in shares and win the northwest distributorship.
"Brother Zuo, please tell me."
What Zuo Mengeng wanted this time was actually simpler.
"I would like to ask Brother Wang to purchase thousands of cow and sheep skins on my behalf and provide a stable supply in the future."
Zuo Menggeng purchased cow and sheep skins to make ammunition boxes.
The ammunition of the flash cap gun is wrapped in paper, and waterproofing and moisture resistance have become the most important indicators. Ordinary cloth bags will definitely not work.
Moreover, the cloth bag was soft and the ammunition could not be adjusted properly, which was not conducive to soldiers' use.
The only way is to tantalize the cow and sheep skin and make it into a small square box. The box has a strap that can be connected to the soldier's belt and hung on the soldier's waist.
The leather ammunition box is not easily deformed, and the ammunition can be neatly stacked inside. And the waterproof effect is very good, you can still use it even if you swim in the river.
During combat, as long as the cover is opened, the bullets can be taken out and loaded.
The ammunition box is divided into two layers, one large and one small. The large one contains bullets and propellant, and the small one stores the flash cap containing percussion powder.
In this era, the only people outside the Great Wall that could stably provide cow and sheep skins.
The relationship between Shanxi merchants and those outside the Great Wall made it easy to get some cattle and sheep skins.
Sure enough, Wang Weiran didn't care after hearing this.
"Leave this matter to me. Brother Zuo only needs to pay for it."
So far, the total investment capital of various companies in the glass industry has amounted to more than 500,000 taels of silver.
But if you want to build a glass factory, you won't need so much.
In other words, most of it went into Zuo Mengeng's pocket and became the development funds for the back camp.
Once the money was available, the construction of the factory was put on the agenda.
"Mingfu, please also ask the government office to provide help and publish recruitment notices throughout the city."
There are also benefits to Linqing Prefecture Government Office. Of course, if you are busy with this job, you should look for Qu Shichen.
Qu Shichen didn't take it seriously.
"You can recruit some labor on your own."
Zuo Mengeng looked at him quietly.
"Mingfu, we need 50,000 workers."
"hiss……"
Qu Shishu pulled off his beard and grinned in pain.
"How many do you need?"
He was a little frightened.
"A mere workshop needs so many people?"
Zuo Mengeng had no choice but to give him popular science.
"What we are building this time is not a small workshop, but a group enterprise. If we want to meet everyone's needs, we must have sufficient output. If there are not enough workers, we simply can't do it."
Zuo Mengeng added another sentence.
"For this reason, my nephew has already plundered all the refugees outside the city, but there is still a big gap. My nephew thought that there are also a lot of unemployed refugees in the city. They do evil and harm the neighbors every day, so why not bring them all in and let these people work? If you gain something, you will still be able to stabilize the place."
Qu Shishu suddenly sat upright and looked over.
"Are the refugees outside the city gone?"
After he took over as magistrate, his biggest worry was the refugees outside the city who were waiting for food.
You say no matter what, these refugees will definitely die of hunger and cold.
But if you want to take care of it, how can you have the energy to take care of it?
Unlike many cruel local officials, he directly drove away the refugees. As long as it's not within one's own jurisdiction, it doesn't matter where he dies.
The only big city nearby is Linqing, so the first choice for refugees to eat is here.
But the people under his rule were displaced, which made his political achievements very unsightly.
Now Zuo Mengeng told him that there were no refugees outside the city.
How could this not surprise Qu Shiqi?
"The Ming government didn't know something. It had previously renovated Chaoguan Wharf and recruited more than 3,000 refugees. Later, these people were recruited to my nephew's back camp. Counting their families, there are at least 10,000 people. This time they want to build a glass enterprise. It also requires a lot of labor. It’s not enough to recruit the remaining 10,000 refugees.”
Qu Shishu completely ignored why there were three thousand people in Zuo Menggen's camp, and even if he heard it, he pretended not to have heard it.
What he is more concerned about is that just two projects can solve the problem of homeless people.
"My dear nephew, your glass... glass enterprise only needs so many people temporarily, or will it always be needed?"
Zuo Mengeng knew what he wanted to ask.
"In the Ming Dynasty, the land is now in short supply and cannot support such a large population. The government must find a way for the people to survive. The labor force required for work is several times or dozens of times that of cultivated land. It only needs to allow the people to earn a living from their work. The money and food needed are not at all worried about the troubles of the refugees.”
Qu Shichun closed his eyes and meditated, there was something he couldn't figure out.
"Everyone in the world has gone to work, but who will do the farming? Without farming, how will we be able to feed ourselves? When the time comes, people will starve to death all over the land, wouldn't it be a bigger disaster?"
Zuo Mengeng explained patiently.
"It's not about preventing people from farming, but about liberating the redundant people from the land. In this way, the people who farm the land will have income, and the people who work will also have income, and no one will be poor or hungry."
After all, Qu Shishu was not too farsighted to see the deeper meaning behind this.
However, the refugees outside the city were wiped out, and even the unemployed refugees in the city had a home, which still made him extremely satisfied.
The people live and work in peace and contentment, which is a huge achievement for officials.
With the government's intervention, recruitment notices were posted all over the city, becoming the biggest hot topic in Linqing at the moment.
Countless people are eager to try and flock to various registration locations.
Twenty cents a day was a small wage, but it was better than no income at all.
Most of the time, people make choices because they have no choice. Even though the wages are stingy, they do not match their efforts.
More than 50,000 workers were quickly recruited.
The wasteland that once passed by without even taking a second glance has now turned into an extremely bustling factory.
Zuo Menggeng made a plan for the factory area and did not wait until everything was completed before starting construction. Instead, it is divided into several areas, and construction is done in different order.
People in this era have little demand for flat glass because they don't know how to use it.
You said it can be used to make windows, which is better than paper ones?
Sorry, just tell me how to transport this fragile flat glass from Shandong to Shanxi, or beyond?
If the damage rate exceeds a certain level, you will not make money.
On the contrary, people of this era are very fond of water glasses, water bottles and other glass artworks.
There was nothing Zuo Mengeng could do about this.
After all, the market is the only factor that determines business.
The first batch of production lines built produced these things.
On the day when construction started, everyone who could come came.
Everyone was astonished to see with their own eyes the sand and limestone that was put in, turned into a red liquid, and then blown into various transparent and crystal clear glasses by craftsmen.
"This thing...this thing is so simple?"
While Wang Weiran was stunned, he couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken.
I feel that the two hundred thousand taels of silver I spent was not worth it.
Zuo Menggengquan pretended not to see it.
"For things in this world, it is not difficult to know the reasons. What is rare is to know the why. Brother Wang, do you think so?"
Wang Weiran stared at the craftsmen blowing glass, his face dark and unclear, and he didn't know what he was thinking.
When leaving the factory, in a quiet place, Wang Weiran asked the people around him in a low voice: "Have you ever seen how it is fired?"
The man was full of confidence.
"Young master, please rest assured. I have seen it clearly and clearly. We can do it ourselves after we go back."
Wang Weiran was very happy and immediately ordered: "You rush back to Puzhou immediately. Once you make it, report it immediately."
After receiving the order, the man quickly left.
Wang Weiran turned around and looked at the busy construction site with cold eyes, a disdainful smile on his lips.
Is it really easy to make money as a Shanxi merchant?
Zuo, wait for the day when you cry.
