The conversation with Zhang Xin was quite pleasant.
Chen Kan knew that as long as the benefits were sufficient, there was nothing in this world that could not be discussed.
Zhang Xin signed his name on the contract.
Then he called the housekeeper and said: "Take my title card and invite the Marquis of Xiping, Marquis Taishou, Marquis Jing'an, Duke Cheng, Duke Qi, and Marquis Xincheng to come... to the banquet."
Zhang Xin gave an order and invited almost all the powerful generals in the capital. In less than half an hour, a group of princes gathered at the Longping Marquis Mansion.
They also received perfume and soap sent by Chen Kan. When they heard from the servants of Longping Houfu, Chen Kan had found Zhang Xin.
He rushed over without stopping.
When Zhang Xin informed the generals about Chen Kan's distribution method, as well as the cost and selling price of these two things, the generals all showed the same shocked expressions as when Zhang Xin first learned about it.
It's not that the generals haven't seen the world.
The main thing is that the profits from this are so amazing. It is so amazing that the profits of all the caravans in their family combined may not be as high as these two things.
Although Jiangmen only accounts for 20% of the total, once these two things become popular across the country, they may even be shipped overseas for sale.
Such a huge wealth is not too small if it is distributed to every family.
Mu Sheng initially estimated that if it works well, each household's annual income will not be less than 50,000 taels of silver.
That's equivalent to fifty thousand taels of silver picked up for nothing.
As soon as Mu Sheng's estimated data came out, a group of generals who had already been in high positions and whose hearts were as hard as stone suddenly became uneasy.
Fifty thousand taels!
And it’s 50,000 taels per year, which is a lot of money. This is definitely a big deal.
A group of military generals who originally looked at Chen Kan with displeasure suddenly looked at him with kindness.
How to describe it, it's like looking at a walking pile of humanoid gold, or, to put it nicely, it's like looking at the living God of Wealth.
The generals were not fools and knew why Chen Kan would give up such a huge fortune.
So kind smiles appeared on their faces.
"As expected of Mr. Fang's disciple, his calmness in treating money like dirt is much better than ours."
"When you have time, come and sit in the house more often, and let the rebellious son in the house soak up your spiritual energy. Speaking of which, my father, Chen Heng, had some friendship with me back then..."
"Yes, in the final analysis, Mr. Chen is still a general. No, if there is any good thing, we should be the first to think about it."
"Hahahaha, not bad, there is someone to succeed Puding Hou..."
Money is a bastard. The more you look at it, the better it looks. This is the most typical example.
A group of Qiu Ba also automatically pulled Chen Kan to Jiang Men's side, and even his dead ghost father became their best friend when he was alive.
This is what giving generous gifts does.
Chen Kan felt that it was worth it to exchange fifty thousand taels of silver for reconciliation with the general.
More importantly, in the future, with perfume and soap as a bond, Chen Kan would be able to tie the door to his body.
Because he never thought of revealing the secret recipe to the general.
There is an advantage to holding the secret recipe tightly in your hands, that is, if Chen Kan is in trouble in the future, the generals will give him a hand because of the loss of fifty thousand taels per year.
In the past few months, Chen Kan was like a spider, constantly weaving a huge web, turning the royal family, generals, and civil servants into nodes in the web.
The thread connecting these nodes is interest and Chen Kan's ability.
And the very center of this network is Chen Kan himself.
This network is still very fragile now, but Chen Kan believes that one day, this network will become indestructible!
When the generals in the capital signed their names on the contract and pressed their fingerprints.
Zhang Xin waved his hand, and all kinds of delicacies were brought up like running water.
The Kabuki trained in the Hou Mansion came to the classroom and began to perform entertainment programs for the diners.
Mu Sheng took the initiative to talk to Chen Kan and said: "Your Majesty and the officials have agreed to the policy of reforming the land and returning it to local people. I will go back to Yunnan in a few days and will first select a few prefectures and counties to implement it."
Chen Kan raised his glass to Mu Sheng and asked, "Is the Marquis going back to Yunnan?"
Mu Sheng said: "The situation in Yunnan is chaotic. I can't stay in the capital for a long time. I am very satisfied to be able to come back and take a look."
Chen Kan nodded: "The boy will first congratulate Mr. Hou on his success."
"With your good words, I also hope that the chaotic situation in Yunnan can be resolved once and for all."
The two chatted dryly for a few words, but the atmosphere was far from lively.
Mu Sheng suddenly said with emotion: "Boy Chen, you are a capable person. If you have any good ideas on border matters in the future, don't hide them. The soldiers guarding the border will not have an easy life."
Chen Kan nodded and didn't say much.
In fact, looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, not only the border troops, but all military households had a difficult life.
The military system of the Ming Dynasty was the guard system.
When Taizu first established this system, his original intention was to integrate soldiers with farmers.
In a military family, the father dies and the son succeeds. Military literacy can also be passed down from father to son, and from son to grandson. In this way, the combat effectiveness of the army can be guaranteed. Military households serve as soldiers in wartime and as farmers in their free time.
The imperial court raises millions of soldiers without wasting a grain of food from the people.
It has to be said that when Taizu was in power, the guard system did provide great convenience and foundation for the Ming army to be victorious in every battle.
Moreover, Grandpa Taizu also considered the heavy living burden of military households and gave good compensation.
Give more land and exempt from labor service.
At the same time, it is easier for military households to rise through the ranks than for ordinary people. As long as they perform meritorious service on the battlefield, they can be granted official titles.
Logically speaking, this can be regarded as a policy that is beneficial to people's livelihood, conducive to strengthening the army, and has the best of both worlds.
But...the ideal is very plump, but the reality is very skinny.
Grandfather Taizu took everything into consideration, except the human heart.
Over time, the shortcomings of the strong guard system emerged. First, power was too concentrated. Guard officers had the power of life and death over military households.
This led to the officers using the military households as slaves and maidservants, not only massively occupying the military households' property, but also turning the military households into their own private soldiers and tenants.
By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, military households had actually been completely reduced to a tool for guards officers to farm land and make money. Their lives were not as good as those of ordinary people, and they had no fighting capacity at all.
In other words, there is no need to wait until the middle and late stages, because the escape of military households during the Hongwu period has been repeatedly prohibited.
In the Yongle Dynasty, due to more foreign wars, the disadvantages of the guard system were not as obvious as in the Hongwu Dynasty.
During the Ming Dynasty, neither of the two systems that Zhu Yuanzhang was most proud of, the enfeoffment of kings and the guard system, had the effect he expected.
