Reborn Ming Dynasty as Emperor

Chapter 523 Selling Opium to the West

"Will you do business?"

"Can you find out for me how many silver dollars are circulating in the entire tobacco industry within half a year?"

"Is it possible to find out the details of the dignitaries who are engaged in the tobacco industry or who serve as umbrellas for the tobacco industry?"

"Give you a sum of money, can you become a big tobacco dealer in the shortest possible time and control the entire tobacco industry?"

……

After Gu Hengbo put on his dress, Zhu Youxiao got up directly, sat back at the Bafang table, poured a glass of wine, and asked Gu Hengbo very seriously.

Gu Hengbo was taken aback for a moment, she never thought that His Majesty didn't ask her where she lived or how old she was, but after occupying her body for two days, she suddenly asked this question, forgive her for being so smart, but also unable to guess what His Majesty is going to do What do you think.

However, Your Majesty is Your Majesty after all. Although she is a noble lady, she can sell her performances outside and sell her for a price, but in front of the king, she can only let him conquer. Now that she is asked about this, she can only answer truthfully. : "I don't know if the pavilions opened by the slave's family in the past are considered business. Although they can't make a lot of money, they can still support a dozen maids and servants. As for inquiring about the news and finding out the details, slaves rely on dealing with people to save money. It is natural to be well versed in this way when you own this family business."

"It's so good." As soon as Zhu Youxiao put down the wine glass, he pulled Gu Hengbo's sleeve, then took him into his arms, raised his jaw, and said with a smile: "I want to give you a piece of wealth, and I will give you a fortune as soon as you like." I'm going back to bed, and I'll talk to you in detail."

……

Early the next morning, news spread throughout Huajian City that Gu Meisheng, a celebrity who had come all the way from the south of the Yangtze River, disappeared mysteriously in Huajian City for half a month and suddenly returned to Nanjing on an official ship of China Merchants.

All the dignitaries and playboys who came to Huajian City after hearing his name couldn't help sighing.

But as everyone knows, Gu Hengbo doesn't want to leave Huajian City at this time. She came to Huajian City originally because she wanted to be the No. She has learned more, and heard that Yang Tinglin, the governor of Fusang, is a great talent, and he is one of the few young and ambitious young officials in Ming Dynasty, so she came here especially, and successfully met Yang Tinglin, the governor of Fusang.

But she didn't expect that the governor of Fusang would raise her in a deep boudoir and prepare her to serve His Majesty. Naturally, she didn't dare to disobey. It is an honor to be honored by the emperor Yulu, and maybe she can hope to get one or two titles. Although she will not be able to show her face in the future, it can be regarded as changing her current despised status and becoming the second concubine concubine.

But she didn't expect that she got such a result.

Holding a copy of the secret decree in her hand and a seal and wooden plaque of "Hundred Criminal Households of Dongji Incident Factory", Gu Hengbo couldn't help laughing. She never thought that after sleeping with His Majesty for two days, she would get it out of thin air. Such an official position, although the rank is not high, it can scare people to death.

"Find out the current situation of the entire Daming tobacco industry within half a year. If it succeeds, you can get 500 million silver dollars to replace the royal capital and become the largest tobacco merchant in Daming. If you don't succeed in bringing your own poisonous wine, there will be experienced Dongchang fanzi to listen to it." You schedule and help you get things done."

These are Zhu Youxiao's original words. Gu Hengbo couldn't help but tremble all over when he didn't expect this sentence. She never thought that she would become a member of Dongchang.

But the emperor's order is hard to disobey, not to mention that she is now owned by the emperor, so naturally she must obey the emperor's order even more.

Because of this, she hurried back to Qinhuai River in Nanjing, and prepared to meet Wei Guogong Xu Hongji with a secret decree. Xu Hongji had to maintain a good relationship with her, Gu Hengbo, in order to help Gu Hengbo get to know more high-level figures .

On the same day, Zhu Youxiao also boarded a warship to go to Miaotun, then passed through Hetuala from Miaotun to Shenyang, and then returned to the capital.

Seeing the alluring face in the stateroom of the China Merchants Steamship not far away, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but smile. He let Gu Hengbo be able to make friends with many high-ranking officials but not easy to reveal the court's intentions. It was not on a whim for someone to evaluate and investigate Daming's opium industry, but the result of his careful consideration.

In the past two days, he spent almost 24 hours with this peerless beauty. From outsiders, it seems that he was greedy for her beauty, just like Tang Minghuang after seeing Concubine Yang, but in fact, Zhu Youxiao also took advantage of this to have sex with Gu Hengbo He conducted in-depth exchanges, reviewed her abilities, and finally decided to let her enter the tobacco industry on her behalf.

Arms, oil, and drugs are the three most profitable trades in today's society, and it was the same in the Ming Dynasty. Because of the rapid development of Ming's productivity, the historical process was advanced by hundreds of years. The only way to gain profits is to take risks and rely on selling tobacco and soil, and the same is true for many domestic private merchants. Not everyone can become a monopoly of the Royal Industrial Company, so many Ming businessmen who pursue huge profits also operate this tobacco and soil industry, and also sell it in large quantities to the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. This made the Daming tobacco trade phenomenon very serious.

However, Zhu Youxiao adopted a very strict ban on the sale of tobacco and soil to foreign barbarians, but not so strict on domestic businessmen, which made these domestic businessmen even more unscrupulous. They took the raw materials of tobacco and soil from Xiyang Fanli and processed them, and then directly sold them to people and people from all over the Ming Dynasty. Residents of other countries.

But this would indeed endanger the health of the people of Ming Dynasty and the stability of society, so Zhu Youxiao decided not only to prohibit foreigners from selling tobacco, but also to prohibit Ming private merchants from selling tobacco to domestic people, so he asked Gu Hengbo to find out the tobacco for himself. The water behind the operation is not deep, and then he can make a decision whether to completely ban the sale of tobacco and adopt the strictest punishment.

Zhu Youxiao wasn't sure whether the tycoons like Li Mingrui and Wang Chengen also benefited from these tobacco merchants, or were their beneficiaries directly, so he didn't assign this task to these two men, but to Gu Hengbo.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao does not really want to give up the violence in the opium industry. He will severely punish domestic sales and encourage the sale of opium to Europe, that is, after the poppies purchased from Xiyangfan are processed into opium. Then sell it to Europa.

Therefore, he also asked Gu Hengbo to enter the tobacco industry on his behalf when he knew the details of this industry.

Zhu Youxiao is now also counting on this opium industry to help him gain huge profits in Europa under the leadership of Gu Hengbo. In the original history, China should have had opium trafficking in China more than 100 years later because of the incompetence of the Qing government. Seriously, but in this time and space more than 100 years ago, Zhu Youxiao felt that the Ming Dynasty could also sell opium to Europa, with the purpose of destroying his will, numb his nerves, and earn his money.

Although a naval battle in the past ended in a disastrous defeat for the Western countries, because Ming Dynasty was not in a hurry to enter the Indian Ocean, the two sides did not deteriorate to the point of cutting off economic exchanges. The possibility of Western Fan's first huge sum of money.

(End of this chapter)