Steel Dynasty - Chapter 250

[Chapter 250 Return to Cangzhou]

The atmosphere of the auction became more and more heated because the number of mirrors was getting smaller and smaller.

There was a lot of bidding on the spot, and 500 mirrors were auctioned off one by one. The merchants who bought the mirrors would get a small wooden sign, and they would use the wooden sign to pay the silver at the Chamber of Commerce and take away the mirror.

“Sixteen thousand taels.”

“Sixteen thousand five hundred taels.”

“…”

The auction lasted from morning to afternoon. At the end of the five hundred mirrors, only one was left, and the bidding became louder and louder. stand up.

“Seventeen thousand taels.”

“Eighteen thousand taels.”

“Twenty thousand taels!”

The last voice concluded, and the auction site fell silent. All the mirrors in the auction were sold out.

Li Kaiyuan smiled so hard that his fangs disappeared. The five hundred mirrors brought at least six to seven million taels of income to the chamber of commerce this time. He also knew the cost of these mirrors clearly. Among all the commodities in Qingzhou, mirrors are truly worth a fortune. .

After the auction ended, people at the scene left one after another, either feeling satisfied or sighing.

Five hundred people who had auctioned the mirrors stayed behind, and then they came to Li Kaiyuan with wooden signs to collect the mirrors.

Because this mirror only costs 10,000 to 20,000 yuan in silver, most of these merchants use silver notes, silver, or gold to buy it directly, but few merchants use goods to offset it.

After all, this is not a large transaction.

When it was time to collect the money, the people in the chamber of commerce immediately became busy, counting the silver coins, carrying the silver coins, and handing the mirrors to the auctioneer.

The auction was not really over until the evening.

At this time, Pang Yukun and Xiao Ming appeared. Looking at the gold and silver notes and other items on the ground, they laughed with satisfaction.

The money in the treasury was abundant again this time.

“Your Highness, the amount of this transaction has been counted. Here is the account book. Take a look.” Li Kaiyuan held an account book and said to Xiao Ming.

Xiao Ming opened it and looked at it. It recorded the records of each auction transaction. There were 500 records in total, and a total of 7.2 million taels was written at the back of the account book.

“Seven million two million taels.”

Pang Yukun’s beard trembled and he smiled broadly. This seven million two million taels was enough for Xiao Ming to implement several major projects.

Xiao Ming nodded with satisfaction and said, “Send the silver into the treasury and spend it uniformly.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Li San responded and immediately called for the soldiers outside to escort the silver to the warehouse in Qingzhou Mansion. It is where the Qingzhou treasury is located.

All of Dayu’s tax revenues are collected here. In addition to leaving part of the money for turnover, the money earned by the Chamber of Commerce basically comes here, and is spent by the government according to the conditions of each state.

Once the auction was over, Xiao Ming felt relaxed. Seven million two million taels were enough for him to build another twenty or thirty Galen ships.

But obviously he cannot give all the money to the army. A large part of the money must be invested in the people’s livelihood in the six states, using money to make money.

Moreover, as his stall grew bigger and bigger, there were more and more places to spend money.

For example, in Bowen College, all meals and lodging are free for those who are admitted to Bowen College. This is also to allow poor scholars to concentrate on their studies without worrying about future problems.

After all, Bowen College is the core talent exporter that will drive the development of Qingzhou in the future.

After leaving the Chamber of Commerce, Xiao Ming did not go through the main entrance of the palace this time, but entered through the side door.

Because he knew that there must be many people outside the door asking to see him and want to discuss the mirror with him.

However, he made up his mind that this mirror would not sell the sales rights like perfume and soap. He made a lot of money at that time, but for a monopoly business like his, this was a loss.

The uproar over the mirror in Qingzhou took another ten days to subside. At this time, the Chamber of Commerce began to officially sell mirrors.

Businessmen staying in Qingzhou immediately flocked to the Chamber of Commerce, but many were blocked from the door.

“Members of the Chamber of Commerce are given priority.” Li Kaiyuan explained to a group of businessmen.

The membership system of the Chamber of Commerce has been running. Now the number of members in the Chamber of Commerce has reached thousands. These people will get discounts in terms of speed and price when buying goods in Qingzhou.

Moreover, some members of the Chamber of Commerce have already considered settling in Qingzhou. After all, they bought members with huge amounts of silver. Only by settling in Qingzhou can they always get information from the Chamber of Commerce.

For example, this time about the mirror, members like them visited the mirror before the trade fair.

Many conveniences made them gradually recognize their membership status.

When Li Kaiyuan said this, some members of the chamber of commerce showed proud smiles. Among the crowd, they seemed to be one step ahead.

Some businessmen who had not joined the Chamber of Commerce began to hesitate to become members.

The expressions of the merchants were seen by Li Kaiyuan, and he smiled secretly in his heart. All of this was within Xiao Ming’s plan, and the commercial center of the Chongqing Kingdom was gradually moving to Qingzhou.

In Prince Qi’s Mansion, Xiao Ming no longer cared about the seven million taels of silver. In his eyes, these products were purely low-end products. The only thing about this mirror was that it had some technical content.

But this is far from what he pursues.

Qingzhou’s industry is only in its infancy, and more products with higher technological content will be launched in the future.

These products are produced by the talents trained in Bowen College.

His current task is to carry out several major projects, one of which is the reinforced concrete city wall in Cangzhou.

During this period of time, Zhan Xingchang has been preparing building materials in Cangzhou, and the steel workshop has been producing steel bars. Now the conditions are in place, all that is left is construction.

To be honest, the news that Wang Xuan brought about the barbarian research on artillery really worried Xiao Ming.

Before Shanhaiguan was broken, Cangzhou was just a small city. It wasn’t until the barbarians invaded that Niu Ben led his people to build this city wall. In fact, this city wall was not very strong.

Later, Zhan Xingchang’s reinforcement was just to increase the firing position of the artillery, and the city wall was still not reinforced much.

If the barbarians really came with artillery, this city wall would be really dangerous, at least the city gate would be easily penetrated by cannonballs.

Therefore, when the silver was sufficient this time, he not only sent tens of thousands of slaves, but also allocated silver to hire local people in Cangzhou to participate in the construction of the city wall.

This is also to compete with the barbarians for time, because with the barbarians’ national strength, if they really find craftsmen who understand artillery technology, I am afraid it will only be a matter of time before they can produce artillery.

Based on this situation, Xiao Ming planned to go to Cangzhou in person to arrange the construction of the new city wall. After all, Zhan Xingchang was still far behind him in terms of construction.

Outside the palace, Ziyuan has prepared a carriage for Xiao Ming.

Xiao Ming arrived at the door and ordered: “Don’t slack off in the textile workshop. You must see the sails when I come back.”

Zi Yuan nodded and said: “Your Highness, you must be careful when going to Cangzhou.”

After that, he looked at Niu Ben, Lu Fei, Luo Xin and two thousand cavalry. After capturing many horses from the barbarians last time, Qingzhou’s cavalry has expanded a lot again.

But Zi Wan was not thinking about this, but she felt that Xiao Ming’s trip to Cangzhou was not just about the city wall.

(End of chapter)