The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 177 The Prince's Social Classroom

Zhu Houzhao brought in a wave of passenger traffic.

Customers are naturally full of interest when they see all kinds of products, but when they see the price... they are a bit daunting.

"...Look, everyone, this is a mirror, which is much clearer than a bronze mirror. A mirror is not expensive, two hundred cash. The bigger one is four hundred cash..."

"Look at this magnifying glass again. When you put it on something, you can see the details clearly. It's five hundred coins apiece. No kidding."

"If you have presbyopia, use these, called glasses, and you can see what you wear near your eyes."

While the shopkeeper Huang Li was selling, he also brought over an elderly try-on.

After the try-on wearer put it on, he found something for him to test.

The man said in surprise: "Sure enough, I can see it clearly!"

"This kind of glasses is for people who read a lot, so they can see far away!"

"Who believes it?"

"Don't say it, come and try this young man!"

Then a scholar was pulled over to test myopia glasses.

After he put it on, he almost jumped up on the spot: "I saw it, I saw it!"

In these days, presbyopia is not taken seriously, but myopia is something that many people, especially scholars, see two worlds with or without glasses.

"How much silver is this thing?"

"A pair of taels of silver. It can be made according to the rules of your eyes, so as to ensure that you can see things in the distance clearly without dizziness. Blessed are those who are usually blind."

"So expensive? Who are you talking about?"

"The more expensive ones are the better ones. This young man, after looking at the glasses, it's time to return them. Don't worry about them. If you break them, you will have to pay for them."

Huang Li saw that the scholar didn't really want to buy it, he just came to join in the fun, and then grabbed the glasses back.

The scholar's reluctance made people see that this was indeed a good thing, but it was useless to ordinary people.

"Is there anything cheaper?"

"Yes, there are glass cups here, thirty yuan each. Crystal clear."

"Isn't it cheaper to use porcelain cups to make cups from colored glass? Bowls are also fine for drinking tea."

Huang Li looked very proud: "The things here are high-end, and these things are not available in the market. After buying them, others will know that they are from a noble family."

From Huang Li to this group of people, people feel that if they buy a glass cup and go home, they can reach the pinnacle of life.

"There are also glazed beads, which can be said to be precious stones, and they cost ten cents each. If you want to buy them, please come early, while they are sold out..."

……

……

There is a sale going on outside.

I don't know if anyone bought it, at least Zhu Hou took care of it and found it lacklustre.

"I don't have anything new, I want to bring some more good things back home." Zhu Houzhao looked very depressed.

He came out to see interesting things, but what he saw was what he had seen before.

Zhang Zhoudao: "I'm too busy recently, how can I have time to fix something good? Come with me."

Immediately, he took Zhu Houzhao to the backyard of the shop, where a "bicycle" made of iron and wood was parked and welded. The iron pipes that had been burnt and cast before were first used on it to form the main frame of the bicycle.

"What is this?" Zhu Houzhao was curious.

Zhang Zhou walked over and got on his bicycle. Although there were no tires and the chain was very stiff, Zhu Houzhao was stunned by the way he pedaled on the flat ground and ran on two wheels.

"It's so fun, give it to me!"

Then Zhu Houzhao was going to do it by himself.

Zhang Zhou said: "You don't know, just watch from the sidelines, I can't do business if I fall."

"It's okay, I'm not afraid of falling!"

Then Zhu Houzhao insisted on getting on the bicycle, which made Liu Jin and others who followed him anxious.

A group of people supported and supported Zhu Houzhao, who made Zhu Houzhao kick up.

Although the bicycle Zhang Zhou originally built was not big, Zhu Houzhao still had short legs, coupled with his lack of physical strength, he was ridden on a lap and sweated profusely from exhaustion.

"My lord, let's come down." Liu Jin persuaded.

He knew that if Zhu Houzhao fell again, it would not be as simple as being hit by the board when he went back.

Zhu Houzhao is tired and happy.

He got off the bike and wiped the sweat off his brow: "It's all right!"

Zhang Zhou narrowed his eyes and said, "If you like it, I can order a set for you, make it according to your height, and add a set of protective gear for you."

"Okay!" Zhu Houzhao readily agreed, "Is 500 taels enough?"

Gao Feng hurriedly said: "Your Highness, it won't take that much money."

Liu Jin wanted to say it at first, but now he didn't dare to dismantle Zhang Zhou's platform, and the look on the side was resentful, obviously he also felt that the crown prince was going to be taken advantage of.

Zhu Houzhao scolded: "I can spend my own money as I want! Even if I give him 5000 taels, I will be happy with it!"

"okay."

Zhang Zhou said unhappily, "I can give you something, but whether you can play with it or not depends on His Majesty's approval. Don't be too happy. Let me show you something."

This time without Zhang Zhou's greeting, Zhu Houzhao threw the bicycle to Gao Feng who was aside, and followed Zhang Zhou in.

Zhang Zhou gave him a small object to play with in the palm of his hand. Zhu Houzhao held it in his hand, but couldn't figure out what it was.

"What?"

"Smash the cannon." Zhang Zhou said.

Zhu Houzhao frowned: "Is this useful?"

Zhang Zhou smiled, took it over, and raised it up to the sky.

"Bang bang bang bang bang!"

Six times in a row.

Zhu Houzhao's eyes were shining, as if he had never seen such a fun thing.

"I come!"

As he said that, Zhu Houzhao snatched the revolver smashing gun, and then pulled the trigger, but there was no sound at all.

"Broken?" Zhu Houzhao didn't know why.

Liu Jin next to her was so frightened that she almost covered her ears, and asked, "Mr. Zhang, what is this? Isn't it dangerous?"

Zhang Zhou smiled and shook his head: "It's not dangerous."

As he said that, he broke apart the gunpowder and took out the gunpowder that was responsible for making the noise... Actually, the materials were just a little black powder and red phosphorus, not even potassium chlorate, because red phosphorus itself has a low ignition point. The trigger is ignited, just like the principle of the fire, directly igniting the black powder in a small area to make the sound of firecrackers.

This is also what Zhang Zhou researched to make new firearms.

The craftsman Dongchang found for him is very experienced in casting copper parts, so this revolver gun is made of copper.

Zhang Zhou mainly uses this to complete the manufacture of fixed-specification castings such as springs and triggers, and completes the test of mechanical sensitivity and durability with the assembled smashing gun. Later, he plans to manufacture standard bullets, but the biggest technical breakthrough The difficulty lies not in the regulation of these small castings, but in the manufacture and selection of the "triggering charge", that is, the priming charge.

To put it bluntly, this is a semi-finished toy for experimentation, and it does not have any lethality.

"try again!"

Said that Zhang Zhou handed the smashing gun to Zhu Houzhao.

Then Zhu Houzhao can finally realize the cool moves of "Western Cowboy", although he himself doesn't know what he is doing.

……

……

Played around the backyard with Zhu Houzhao.

Huang Li hurried over to find Zhang Zhou, and excitedly said, "Boss, the deal is done."

"How many orders?" Zhang Zhou asked.

Huang Li looked at the boy who came to buy goods earlier, sitting with his boss and playing with something in his hand, he was still a little puzzled as to who he was.

He smiled and said, "There are a lot of orders, especially glazed mirrors and glasses. The most people buy them. There are also glasses...they are almost sold out."

With that said, Huang Li showed Zhang Zhou the account book he had just recorded.

"Not bad, I made more than 40 taels of silver, and the income is not bad." Zhang Zhou nodded, and then looked at Zhu Houzhao beside him, "The business is profitable, you have no idea?"

Zhu Houzhao curled his lips: "It's only 40 taels of silver, how about sending the beggar?"

Zhang Zhoudao: "If you sell 40 taels that day, how much can you sell in a year?"

"This..." Zhu Houzhao was stunned for a while, and asked after a while, "More than 1 taels? That seems to be not bad."

It was the first time in his life that he made money, cheating two uncles, and only earned more than 6000 taels of silver. If a small shop like Zhang Zhou can sell more than 1 taels a year, then the relationship is very good.

"It's [-]% for me, right?" Zhu Houzhao suddenly became interested in this business again.

When Huang Li heard this, his face instantly sank.

What kind of person is this, a brat, who dares to come up and demand [-]% of the profit from his boss?

Zhang Zhoudao: "Okay, I'll give you [-]%, but don't expect to have this profit every day in the future. Today is to sell something new and engage in impulsive consumption. After these people buy it back, they find it's not very useful, so they will think I want to return the goods, of course I won’t return them. But they will definitely not come again in the future...”

"As long as you have money to make, don't worry about it." Zhu Houzhao smiled.

Not for money, just for fun.

Zhang Zhou nodded: "If there is any partnership in the future, it will be divided [-]-[-]. The management right belongs to me. If you agree, we will sign the contract."

"Again?" Zhu Houzhao frowned when he remembered that when he and Zhang Zhou opened a bookstore together, he frowned, but then waved his sleeves, "Take the pen, I want to sign."

……

……

Zhang Zhou signed another [-]-[-] contract with Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao felt that he had made money, and the eunuch next to him also felt that Zhang Zhou was so generous that he had no friends. On the first day of opening, the sales volume was 40 taels in less than an hour. How could he give up half of the crown prince?Is this the stingy Zhang Gongsheng?
But Zhang Zhou took the contract, but he was full of ambition.

For travelers, making money is a trivial matter, what they want is this kind of cooperation model of equality and mutual benefit.

"Boss, who is that? Why do you want to divide him in half?"

Huang Li felt that his boss was crazy.

Zhang Zhou pulled Huang Li's sleeve into the room, pointed at Zhu Houzhao and said, "Get to know him again, this Mr. Zhu is also half of your boss. Go over and say hello."

"Dong...Little Dong." Huang Li saluted.

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said: "I'm good at doing business. If there is any business in the future, I will let you be the shopkeeper."

Zhang Zhou smiled and nodded.

At a young age, he will draw cakes for others and win people's hearts.

Huang Li asked again: "Then what business does the little boss's house do?"

"Bold!"

Gu Dayong next to him couldn't listen anymore, you are a shopkeeper in the market, you do odd jobs for others, how dare you ask the prince's family what kind of business is it?
Huang Li was stunned.

I asked what kind of business, but also committed a taboo?
Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "Our Mr. Zhu is full of luxury. We don't need to do business to make money, just get to know each other. Go out and continue to take care of the counter."

"Yes Yes."

Huang Li left with doubts.

Zhu Hou looked at Huang Li's back, smiled and said, "The person you are looking for is quite interesting."

Zhang Zhoudao: "It's not funny, it's the philistine spirit of the market. For him, he only runs around for the livelihood in front of him, and socializes with people because of the livelihood. In his eyes, there is no difference between a prince or an ordinary person. "

"what?"

Zhu Houzhao was dumbfounded, he just commented on a person being interesting, what are you telling me?

Zhang Zhou said: "If you are still in the mood, come out with me to see the appearance of all living beings in this market, let's go."

"Ah."

Zhu Houzhao didn't know what Zhang Zhou was going to do, but he felt that Zhang Zhou was very sophisticated, so he followed Zhang Zhou to watch Huang Li deal with market people and do business together.

……

……

Inside the Qianqing Palace.

After Zhu Youtang finished his day's work, seeing the sunset, he asked Dai Yi next to him, "Has the prince come back?"

"Not yet."

Dai Yi said, "But I guess it will be soon."

"Ah."

Although Zhu Youtang agreed to let his son leave the palace, he was still worried.

Xiao Jing didn't come back until after sunset to report: "Your Majesty, the prince has returned to the palace. Everything is going well."

Zhu Youtang smiled and nodded: "How is he getting along with Bingkuan?"

"Good."

Then Xiao Jing told the emperor in detail about Zhu Houzhao's situation outside the palace.

Xiao Jingxue was smart that day, so he didn't show up in person, but observed secretly around, so that he could look at the problem from an objective perspective.

"...Mr. Zhang also signed a contract with the prince, saying that he made money and would share it fifty-fifty. In an hour, he sold 40 taels, and Mr. Zhang said that the profit was more than 30 taels. He also sold a lot later... "Xiao Jing said cautiously.

It sounds nonsense for a courtier to do business with the prince in partnership.

But Zhang Zhou did it.

Moreover, he did it so aboveboard that he didn't use the prince's money and effort, but gave the prince a profit.

Zhu Youtang frowned and said, "What is Bingkuan trying to do?"

Even the emperor trusted Zhang Zhou so much that he couldn't understand Zhang Zhou's intentions, and the eunuchs next to him couldn't understand what kind of medicine Zhang Zhou was selling in his gourd.

Xiao Jing said again: "Afterwards, Mr. Zhang also explained some truths to His Royal Highness, saying that people in the market are all focused on the immediate interests, and only deal with people within the scope of interests. After that, he and the Crown Prince saw ordinary people. How people exchange money for things... I will talk about a lot later, which is not the content of the classics and history collection, but involves the daily life of the people."

"Hmm." Zhu Youtang nodded, "Bingkuan worked hard to let the prince understand the hardships of the world. Hehe, Bingkuan usually cares about money so much, but he is willing to give half of it to the prince. It's not easy."

The emperor didn't think Zhang Zhou had too bad intentions.

As for making money, half of it was shared with his sons, and the emperor didn't think money was stinky. As an emperor who knew how to govern the country, Xiaozong naturally knew that almost all the troubles in the Ming Dynasty came from "lack of money".

Whether it is governing a country or a family, it is based on the economic foundation.

It is said that Zhang Zhou's business can sell 40 taels an hour, and the net profit is about 30 taels, and half of it is divided into his son...

Did the father tell the courtiers, don't give the prince money, don't lead him into ruin?

He originally asked the prince to go to Zhang Zhou's office just to study. If he was studying the Four Books and Five Classics, there was no need to find Zhang Zhou at all. He just thought that Zhang Zhou could learn things that Hongru could not learn.

as emperor.

Zhu Youtang is very clear about how much those miscellaneous knowledge will help the prince to govern the country in the future.

(End of this chapter)