526 Erchen’s business plan

Chen Tao and Chen Dalei both want to do business in the capital, but they have different concepts of "doing business". Chen Tao is a typical modern person, always thinking about using their unique modern technological advantages and novel products to do business in the capital.

Open up a new market. After some preliminary inspections, he has already decided what kind of business to open an optical shop. There are many civil servants in Beijing, many scholars, and more myopia and presbyopia. Opening an optical shop will definitely be a good business.

In addition, Qian Qianyi came to discuss with them a few days ago, hoping that Qiong Haijun's wireless telegraph technology can be officially opened to the Ming Dynasty. At present, Qiong Haijun's telegraph network has basically connected the north and south. Although there is only one line by the seaside, it is being connected.

The most important eastern region of the Ming Empire. From Hainan to the capital, short-haired internal messages can be delivered within one day. What does this communication speed mean to a regime? Any politician with a little knowledge can

learn.

As the officials of the Ming Empire gained a deeper understanding of shorthairs, their initial surprise and envy towards their magical technological advantages gradually turned into recognition and acceptance. At the same time, of course, they would inevitably want to take advantage of them when conditions permit -

- When Luzon and other places were attacked some time ago, Wang Pu's urgent document sent to Beijing was sent using the Qionghai Navy wireless telegraph. This allowed Beijing to obtain first-hand information about Qiongzhou, Hainan and even Luzon Prefecture.

But the Ming Dynasty cabinet was not very interested in the news from Luzon. Anyway, the short hairs were responsible for those places, and winning or losing had little to do with the court. What they cared about was the special nature of the telegram itself.

Meaning - even news from Qiongzhou Prefecture can be delivered to the capital within one day, so important places such as Guangdong and Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the southern capital of Jinling, which are closer than Qiongzhou, can't they also be delivered to the capital within the same time?

So someone in the court quickly proposed that Short Hair should dedicate the Thousand Miles Communication method to the imperial court. The person who made the suggestion obviously did not understand the actual relationship between the imperial court and Short Hair, and regarded Qiong Haijun as something that could be taken away from him.

However, because Qian Qianyi has entered the Ming Dynasty's cabinet, he is relatively understanding and familiar with "Kun affairs". Of course, he can no longer be so arrogant.

After some discussion, several Ge elders decided that Mr. Qian Ge would come forward and discuss with Shorthair to see if they could borrow their technology. It would be best if the other party was willing to teach this technology to Ming Dynasty. Even if not, at least allow it.

Governments in various places started using it first. They had also heard about the price of short-haired messages for outsiders - each word costs five coins, which is a bit expensive, but as long as the speed is fast, messages from various places can be sent to the central center in a timely manner.

, they don’t mind spending more money either.

After Chen Tao came into contact with Lao Qian, he quickly understood the other party's request - the Ming Dynasty wanted to open telegraph bureaus in various places. This request may not be big, but it is not small either - Qiong Haijun has already arrived for them

In other places, it is just a matter of turning the original telegraph system from dark to light, hanging a signboard of the telegraph office in the public, and opening it to the outside world.

However, the Ming Dynasty also wanted to connect information to places where Shorthair had not yet set foot. How to meet this requirement required Qiong Haijun to make a trade-off - either they would send people to open branches themselves and solve the problems themselves.

All kinds of troubles will come. Or simply train personnel for Ming Dynasty - risking the risk of technology proliferation. How to weigh the trade-offs will be judged by the Hainan Island Committee or even a general meeting.

However, Chen Tao has no objections to opening a telegraph office in Beijing, and it is not technically difficult. It has to be open to the public anyway. It is nothing more than opening an extra store next to the glasses shop he envisioned, and he can also get benefits from it.

With the official support of the Ming Empire, why not?

——Optical shop, telegraph bureau, this is Chen Tao's business idea for opening a store in the capital, with a "high-end" technical style. However, in the eyes of experienced businessmen like Chen Dalei, Chen Tao's idea cannot be said to be bad.

, but it is too youthful, and still cannot escape the thoughts of a scholar who is not familiar with the world.

——Telegraphs and glass glasses are both very good things, and the profits must be very high. Only your short hair family has mastered the technology, so there is no need to worry about competition. However, Chen Dalei is not good at this aspect of technology, so he doesn’t think so.

Especially. In his opinion, although these kinds of fancy new things are good, they are still too far away from the lives of ordinary people. The court and wealthy people use them to add icing on the cake and decorate their appearance. Who of the common people who really live at home would spend it?

This spare money?

When it comes to doing business, it is more secure to do things that are related to the daily lives of ordinary people. Clothes on your body, food in your mouth...these daily necessities related to food, clothing, housing and transportation are the objects favored by businessmen. Of course, the "must" cannot be overdone.

——For example, grain and salt are two items. Since ancient times, grain merchants and salt merchants have never had to worry about losing money. They can sell their inventory at any time. If it is a famine year or a famine season, such as now

, it can even be said that he has the power of life and death for others. From what Chen Dalei has seen during his visits around the capital these days, grain merchants are full of arrogance.

But can ordinary people with no backing and power get involved in this kind of business? Behind the several large-scale grain merchants and salt merchants in the capital are either relatives of the emperor or eunuchs from the palace. If others dare to enter rashly, it will not take a few days.

I'm afraid that a "hoarding" profiteer label was slapped on him, and then the person was sent to jail and the goods were confiscated...

So Chen Dalei thought it would be better to get some winter off-season vegetables, fresh southern fruits... This kind of thing is good. It is easy to create gimmicks, attract attention, and make friends with high-ranking officials, but it is not an indispensable thing.

Son, it is not easy for the government and powerful people to find excuses to suppress you. Even if there is any trouble, at least with my current status, I can suppress it.

——In the eyes of others, he, Mr. Chen, can be regarded as a well-backed person. He and Mr. Chen from Qiong Haijun often walk together and even buy a house together. The relationship must be very good.

. Maybe they are some kind of relative - both of them have the surname Chen. And through Chen Tao's relationship, he can have a few words with Mr. Qian Ge, who is currently looking for a new career. In addition, he received an emperor from the Ministry of Household Affairs.

With a business license, it can also be ranked high in the business community in the capital.

Only Chen Dalei himself knew that he had no close connection with Chen Tao or even Qiong Haijun behind him. They just came here from the south together and took care of each other. In other words, Chen Tao was not very good at dealing with outsiders.

There is a lack of interpersonal communication, so many things will be handled by them. If it were the mature and smart members of Qiong Haijun, his tricks of pretending to be powerful would not be used at all.

Of course, Chen Dalei also wanted to further develop his relationship with Shorthair, so he did not prevent his daughter from coming into contact with Chen Tao. Unfortunately, both Chen Yue'er and Chen Tao were too slow in this regard. Although the two of them usually had little contact,

Sometimes they still play together, but it's just a joke, and they don't seem to have any intention of going further. Chen Dalei is helpless about this, why don't he take the initiative to send his precious daughter to others?

Think about their old rivals in Luzon, the Lin family. Lin Chengcheng, who is much younger than Chen Yue'er, could seize the opportunity to get married after just one meeting, and directly engaged him.

Mao's son-in-law is also a general in the opposing army. In comparison, his daughter is obviously superior in appearance and talent in all aspects, but why is she so inexperienced in this aspect?

It was precisely because of these considerations that he decided to take the mid-level route, and Chen Dalei had a good conversation with the merchants in front of him. In his opinion, whether his company can gain a foothold in Beijing in the future and open up new opportunities, the relationship with the superiors must be well managed.

, these merchants in front of you are the foundation and must not be ignored.

…………

Chen Dalei and Chen Yue'er each take care of a whole yard of people. As the head of the household, Chen Tao is certainly not idle either. The guests he receives are the most valuable in terms of status. They are so valuable that a businessman like Chen Dalei is not qualified to receive them.

Chen Tao, who has a great reputation as a civil servant, was not allowed to accompany him throughout the whole process.

This distinguished guest is none other than Xu Guangqi, a bachelor of Dongge University who holds the title of Minister of Ceremonies and is a member of the current cabinet.

It stands to reason that given Xu Guangqi's status, it is impossible to invite him in person for this kind of private invitation. At most, it would be a huge honor to send a congratulatory note - for example, Qian Qianyi also received the invitation and had to have it sent.

The gifts and congratulatory notes were not shown in person. This was not arrogance, but the rules at the time - even if Qian Qianyi was seeking something from Chen Tao, he could not rashly come to Chen Tao's house for dinner.

Because of his poor health, Xu Guangqi rarely socializes on weekdays, and rarely responds to invitations from relatives and friends. But this time he was dressed in Tsing Yi, a small hat, and a cross hanging on his chest. He only brought

An old servant came over tremblingly, which frightened Chen Tao and the others so much that they quickly asked them to go into the main hall and sit down.

During the conversation, Mr. Xu himself was very polite, saying that he was just here to congratulate him as a Jesuit. However, after two or three sentences, he revealed his purpose of coming - he pulled Chen Tao and kept asking about astronomy, which made it difficult for him to do so.

Chen Tao had a big headache.

Speaking of which, Chen Tao was able to get a job in Qintian Prison thanks to Xu Guangqi's recommendation. The reason why Xu Guangqi recommended him to do this was because Chen Tao accompanied Chen Yue'er to the Catholic Church to pray and met the German Tang Ruowang.

When they met, the two accidentally talked about astronomy. Chen Tao pointed out that the geocentric theory currently promoted by the Jesuits was completely wrong, and even the most fashionable Copernican heliocentric theory was incorrect. This aroused Tang Ruowang's interest, and passed on to Xu Guangqi
Chapter completed!