Chapter 6: Strategies for the Japanese Punishment (III)

It was the first time they came to Taibailou for a drink, so they only ordered seven or eight dishes, a combination of meat and vegetables, and then ordered a pot of Taibaiju, so they started eating it.

"Old Song, let alone, the things in Taibai Building are really good, they are all in color, fragrance and taste. They are much better than the restaurants in Fuzhou." Hong Chengchou said with a red face.

Song Xiance said in pain: "A dish here is enough to buy this table in Fuzhou!"

"Old Song, do you feel sorry?" Hong Chengchou blinked his eyes and laughed strangely.

Song Xiance gave Hong Chengchou a blank look and said, "Who feels sorry!"

"Hehe, just don't feel sorry!" Hong Chengchou kept picking food into his mouth.

"Old Hong, the guy just said that the boss of Taibai Building is a woman, and she is a group of women. Don't you think it's weird? In the capital, who has such great energy to see such a restaurant, and they are all women, and it seems to have something to do with the palace?" Song Xiance kept thinking about this question, but he couldn't understand it no matter how he thought about it.

Hong Chengchou laughed and said, "I said Lao Song, you and I just come to have a drink occasionally. As long as we are not poisoned in the wine and food, and we are not cheated, who runs this restaurant for what?"

"That's right, I'm asking for trouble!" Song Xiance shook his head and raised his glass, "Come on, Lao Hong, cheers, this wine is really good, it's the wine we guys drink!"

"Ding!" After touching the glass, Hong Chengchou did not drink the wine in the glass, but put the wine glass down and pointed to his head and said, "Old Song, it is not difficult for the people behind Taibailou to guess. As long as your head is not stupid, you can guess it. You are just too little about this aspect."

Song Xiance then put down the wine glass, turned his head and whispered: "Old Hong, are you talking about Taibai Building the boss and the people in the palace?"

"In addition to them, who else can have such great energy to open such a restaurant with a dragon at the foot of the emperor in the capital, and there are many guests every day?" Hong Chengchou smiled and whispered.

"Do you know who is the richest in our Ming Dynasty?"

"It goes without saying that it's our emperor!"

"No, it can be said that, but the richest one is the harem. Lao Song, you don't know that you stay in the military camp. The harem's empresses are all extremely smart people. The emperor does not allow them to interfere in political affairs, but he doesn't say that they are doing business. It can be said that half of the empresses in the world in the world are supported by him!" Hong Chengchou said in a mysterious way.

"What do you mean?" Song Xiance said in surprise.

"When we came, were there five hundred stones of white sugar on the ship?" Hong Chengchou asked.

Song Xiance nodded and said, "I know this, it is from Xinghuo Trading Company."

"Yes, do you know whose industry this Spark Trading Company is? Do you know?" Hong Chengchou asked.

"Is that?" Song Xiance was shocked again, but not as surprised as before.

"Does the Spark Fund know?"

"I know, this is a department that specializes in providing funding for various inventions and creations to Mingjian. I heard that it is under the name of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the court and belongs to a semi-official and semi-business organization."

"The founder of the Star Fire Fund is Empress Xian Concubine, and now in the palace, the one who manages the money in the inner palace is this Virtue Xian Concubine. Do you know how much money this Star Fire Fund spends every year to fund various inventions and research in the Ming Dynasty?"

"How many?"

Hong Chengchou stretched out his five fingers with his right hand and said, "No less than five million silver dragon yuan."

Song Xiance took a breath and exclaimed: "So much?"

"Then do you know how much income will be brought to the Spark Fund every year after these strange inventions are created?" Hong Chengchou was about to scare his colleague and subordinate again.

"How many?"

"It's at least three times higher, and it's more than ten times higher!"

"Old Hong, these are not ordinary secrets. Where did you know it?" Song Xiance looked at Hong Chengchou nervously and said.

Hong Chengchou smiled proudly and said, "I guess you know where the white sugar is produced by Lao Song."

"Taiwan, this thing is so expensive, it costs two copper coins per kilogram."

"In Beijing, this thing costs five yuan per kilogram of copper. The white sugar produced in Taiwan is the best quality in our Ming Dynasty. Do you know why?" Hong Chengchou said.

"I don't know this." Song Xiance humbly asked for advice.

"Because of the process, after improving the production process of white sugar, not only will the production cost be greatly reduced, but the output and quality are greatly improved. In addition, the production base is directly opened in Taiwan, which produces high-quality sugar raw materials. Do you think that such a cheap white sugar can be profitable without making money?"

"Will the five hundred stones of white sugar be transferred to the capital to make double the money!" Song Xiance said excitedly.

"This batch of white sugar is not profitable. This is a New Year's goods specially mobilized by the imperial court to Beijing and distributed to officials at all levels. But the shipment was a little late. Fortunately, we caught up with this ship that went directly to Beijing, otherwise we would still be on the road now!" Hong Chengchou sighed.

"Send New Year's goods?"

"This is a new policy that the court has sympathized with officials at all levels. Every year, the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and the New Year, the court will send some daily necessities to officials at all levels for free, including food, drink, and use. To view the court's extra praise to officials, this policy will probably be officially implemented next year. Now I will try it in the capital first to see how the court reacts?" Hong Chengchou smiled. He was very careful about the details. There were many messages on the notices announced by the Military Machine Pavilion to the public, and he was paying attention to them, but Song Xiance did not pay attention to these.

"So that's it." Song Xiance took a long breath.

"The improvement process of this white sugar is in the hands of the Spark Fund. This item has brought countless wealth to the Spark Fund. This time, the five hundred stones of white sugar on our ship is actually just a publicity, and the purpose is to occupy the northern market. In the future, this white sugar will be the world of Spark Business. Who is behind Spark Business?" Hong Chengchou continued.

Song Xiance was shocked and said, "This white sugar is like salt. Although it is not a must-eat, it also has an amazing demand. Once it is controlled and hoarded, the consequences will be extremely serious."

"You can see how the emperor cannot see it. If you want such a monopoly business, it is naturally impossible to be held by someone or some people. This will directly endanger the security of the court. Therefore, although the Spark Fund is mainly in the harem, it operates with the support of the court. The annual profits paid by the Spark Commercial Bank, in addition to expenses and profits and taxes, account for 40% of the annual profits paid by the Spark Commercial Bank, that is, the harem contributes more than 30 million silver dragon yuan to the court every year, accounting for about 30% of the total treasury income!"

"So much!" Song Xiance exclaimed.

"If there was no such a lot of money, where would the imperial court come from before investing in various infrastructure construction, building roads, building bridges, building water conservancy, and running education? If there was no such lot of money, so much money would be used to support more than one million troops?" Hong Chengchou said.

Song Xiance smashed his tongue and didn't say anything.

After drinking and eating, the two were about to settle the bill and leave. At this time, a few people came in uninvited from the box, all wearing military uniforms. The leader wore the rank of general with a warm smile, followed by several young school-level officers, and the youngest was also a colonel.

Hong Chengchou and Song Xiance were wearing casual clothes just to be afraid of causing trouble, so they unexpectedly got provoked.

"Commander Hong, Chief of Staff Song, Liang came in with a presumptuous look. I didn't expect to see two of you here. Liang was so happy!" The head of the army was Liang Tingdong, the director of the General Logistics Department of the Military Machinery Pavilion. Today, several school officials from the logistics department united to invite him, the old commander, to come to Taibailou for a meal. Thanks for his care and promotion to them in this year. Liang Tingdong deliberately promoted some of his confidants, so he naturally agreed to their invitation. He accidentally heard the waiter mention the box next door.

There were also two generals who looked like senior generals to come for dinner, and they didn't know each other. Liang Tingdong changed his mind and thought about Hong Chengchou and Song Xiance who had just arrived in the capital. The waiter's description confirmed his guess. Regarding the two upstarts in the army, who were also generals with heavy troops, Liang Tingdong wanted to make friends to see if they could win over it. Even if they couldn't win over it, it would be good to establish a good relationship, so he brought a group of young backs in.

Song Xiance became a monk halfway through and never came to the capital after becoming a general, so he was not suitable for Liang Tingdong, so he blocked the way he and others were about to leave. He felt a little unhappy. He just saw that the other party had a high military rank and he was also a boss, so he didn't say anything. In addition, he was a dark face and couldn't tell whether he was unhappy.

Hong Chengchou knew that Liang Tingdong and Yang He, the Minister of Justice, were all the same people, and had some influence in the court. However, the court is now the world of the Donglin reformists. Although these self-proclaimed diligents have a place, their power is declining, which is much worse than before.

"It turned out to be Minister Liang. I just returned to Beijing from Fujian and had not had time to visit the mansion. I was so rude. I didn't expect to meet him here." Hong Chengchou knew that the King of Hell was fighting and the little ghost was difficult to deal with. Liang Tingdong also had a certain amount of real power after all, and he was also the number one figure in the Military Gallery. He would have to deal with this in the future, so there was no need to offend such a person.

"I heard that Commander Hong and Chief of Staff Song were summoned into the palace by the emperor as soon as they arrived in the capital. Both of them were the Holy Family, and Liang was envious!" Liang Tingdong said.

"Where is Minister Liang who can see the emperor every day, but he can't compare to the two of us. He may not be able to see the holy face in a few years." Hong Chengchou smiled and told him.

"The emperor summoned two people to Beijing, and I think it would be better to use them." Liang Tingdong asked.

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said, "Does Minister Liang know some inside information?"

"No, no, Liang is just a guess." Liang Tingdong naturally had a ease of dealing with it.

"Minister Liang, who are these people behind you?"

"Oh, these are all my subordinates. It's the New Year, everyone will come together for a meal." Liang Tingdong introduced his proud subordinates to Hong Chengchou one by one.

"Chief Song and I are already full of food and drink, so we won't disturb Minister Liang and several subordinates. Another day, Hong and Chief Song will visit us!" Hong Chengchou did not want to have any in-depth interactions with Liang Tingdong, so he pulled Song Xiance to pay the bill and leave immediately.

"Old Hong, that Minister Liang seems to have something to do?" Song Xiance asked first while walking under Hong Chengchou.

"Hehe, the water in the capital is very muddy. You and I come from the place, so be careful. The traps here are hard to guard against, and they are even more weird and cunning than the rivers and lakes." Hong Chengchou reminded Song Xiance, a new official in the officialdom.

"Old Hong, I think you have a big goal, so you should be careful. My honor is enough to scare away many people." Song Xiance smiled and said, being ugly is not a benefit at all.

The smile on Hong Chengchou's face stopped abruptly and he smiled bitterly, which was considered to be acknowledging Song Xiance's suggestion.
Chapter completed!