At the side gate of the king's mansion in the west of the city, a Hui merchant came.

This man was about forty years old, wearing a cotton robe (pleated suit) and a large round hat, calm and graceful, and at first glance he looked like an official in civilian clothes.

He was very generous, and directly stuffed ten taels of silver to Menzi, and said without humility or arrogance: "Please inform, Huang Chongde, a disciple of Lumen Xinxue and a merchant in Huizhou, came to ask to see Master Wang." ”

The door of the Wang family has been changed, but it should be collected or paid, but it is just that it does not dare to cut off visitors privately. Menzi stuffed two ingots of silver into his arms, and immediately went in to report, and soon someone brought Huang Chongde into the mansion.

Wang Yuan didn't go to the courtyard to greet him this time, he was just a businessman, and it was already very face-saving to promise to see him.

"This experiment shows that there are three forms of water. In the cold winter, it cools down, and the ice is solid; Boil, heat, melt into liquid; Continue to heat up and vaporize into a gaseous state! ”

"Since water has three states, what about other objects? The common iron is solid, and the blacksmith calcined it is liquid (in fact, it is a ferroalloy, and the ancient furnace temperature cannot reach the melting point of pure iron). If the temperature continues to rise, can you also get gaseous iron? ”

"We might as well continue experimenting and find different substances and find them in solid, liquid and gaseous states."

“……”

When Huang Chongde came to Gewutang, Wang Yuan was summarizing the experiment, and there were more than a dozen disciples listening carefully next to him, while Huang E quickly wrote down what Wang Yuan said.

After Wang Yuan finished speaking, the servant said, "Master, the guest is here." ”

Huang Chongde immediately bowed his hand: "Huang Chongde, who was born late, has seen Bachelor Wang!" ”

This guy is already in his forties, but he claims to be a late born in front of Wang Yuan, and he still practices the etiquette of a scholar.

Wang Yuan asked, "Do you have a reputation for being a student?" ”

Huang Chongde replied: "When I was a teenager, I went to school, passed the examination, and gave up my school to start business at the order of my father. The father of the family is also a lifter, and the official is in Qipinzhi County, and now he is due to illness. ”

Wang Yuan asked the students to continue the experiment, and brought Huang Chongde to the side to drink tea: "You are practicing Lumen Xinxue?" ”

Huang Chongde replied: "If the children of Hui merchants study, most of them believe in Lumen Xinxue. ”

"It's kind of interesting." Wang Yuan couldn't help laughing, he really didn't expect that Lu Jiuyuan would actually have a group of businessmen and believers.

Huang Chongde didn't talk about business, and said around the corner: "This time I went to Beijing, and I listened to Yang Minggong's lecture in Xia. Both the Wangmen Mind and the Lumen Mind both start with the 'heart', but they have their own elaborations, which really makes the bottom mouth open. ”

Wang Yuan said with a smile: "Your Excellency is here just to talk about psychology?" Just say something straight. ”

Huang Chongde was stunned, he used to deal with officials, and he relied on the Four Books and Five Classics, poems and songs to get closer. As long as the officials are happy to talk and make enough money, the rest of the things will be very easy to handle, but I didn't expect the famous Bachelor Wang to be bad at this.

Huang Chongde arched his hand and said: "Bachelor Wang, although he is from Huizhou, he started in Qilu, mainly engaged in cotton and grain business, especially cotton and cotton cloth. ”

Wang Yuan asked, "I robbed you of your business?" ”

"Don't dare," Huang Chongde said with a smile, "I want to do business with Master Wang." ”

Wang Yuan said: "If you want to do business, go directly to Tianjin to talk to my shopkeeper." ”

"He can't be the master." Huang Chongde said.

"It looks like big business." Wang Yuan said with a smile.

Huang Chongde said without scruples: "Shandong has suffered a military disaster for two consecutive years, and there are many local cotton merchants who have broken their homes. I took the opportunity to take over the cotton harvesting channel, and now at least half of the cotton in Shandong is sold from me. I have dealt with the guards of various prefectures and counties in Shandong. They have been local officials for generations, and they have a good relationship with the local merchants, and they collect cotton from farmers and sell it directly to me. ”

Wang Yuan did not comment and said, "Go on." ”

Huang Chongde also said: "If Mr. Wang wants to harvest cotton, I will pack the cotton in Shandong next year, provided that Mr. Wang cannot collect cotton from other families." And the cotton in my hand will also be sold to Mr. Wang first, and I will not ship it to Jiangnan for sale until Mr. Wang can't finish harvesting. ”

Wang Yuan said curiously: "I'm just a small workshop, it's worth your personal trip?" ”

Huang Chongde explained: "I have inquired, and Master Wang is only a few hundred spinning workers. However, the cotton yarn purchased and the cotton cloth sold by Mr. Wang are only the output of two or three thousand weavers, and Mr. Wang must have the latest loom, which is several times more efficient than the old loom before! With such a sharp weapon, if you expand production next year, it will inevitably shake the world! ”

"Your news is very well-informed, and you even inquired about the shipment clearly." Wang Yuan said with a smile.

Huang Chongde also said: "If Mr. Wang expands his production capacity, he will definitely need countless cotton next year, and I have countless cotton in my hands." You and I can work together, Master Wang can easily buy cotton, and I can save a lot of transportation costs. After all, selling Shandong cotton to Tianjin can be less than selling it to Songjiang. ”

In order to promote cotton planting, Zhu Yuanzhang exempted cotton fields from paying taxes, and the toll of cotton merchants was also very low. But by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the cotton tax had increased several times, and the cotton ship would be drawn two-tenths after passing a banknote!

That is to say, Huang Chongde sold cotton to Wang Yuan, and the tax cost alone could be reduced by two percent.

"That's all? My shopkeeper seems to be in charge. Wang Yuan asked.

Huang Chongde said with a smile: "I want to be the underwriter of 'bachelor's cloth' in Shandong, and 'bachelor's cloth' needs to be sold to me first!" ”

Wang Yuan took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "You are very good at business, I'm afraid it's not just a cotton grain business, right?" ”

Huang Chongde said: "I also sell some salt. ”

Salt merchant, no wonder!

In fact, due to Zhu Yuanzhang's Kaizhong system, many salt merchants in the early Ming Dynasty were Shanxi merchants. The Jin merchants were in the border area, and the opening of the Chinese system was a sharp weapon for them, and the profits from selling salt were much higher than those of the two Huai merchants.

However, the Kaizhong system completely collapsed in the Hongzhi Dynasty, and the new salt law was introduced, and the profits of the two Huai salt merchants were higher.

And Huang Chongde is the first beneficiary of the new salt law. He started by dealing in cotton and cotton cloth in Shandong, opened up the relationship with the imperial court, and was able to get a large amount of salt every year. He also pulled a large number of people surnamed Huang from his hometown to be salt merchants, and beat those Shanxi merchants so that they couldn't find the north.

Wang Yuan asked: "If I don't give priority to selling cloth to you, will I not be able to buy cotton in Shandong next year?" ”

"Don't dare." Huang Chongde arched his hand.

"How dare I think you dare?" Wang Yuan sneered.

Huang Chongde didn't dare to sit any longer, got up and said, "Master Wang, today is just talking about business, don't think about it too much." ”

Wang Yuan smiled: "Sit down." Your method works, but it comes year after year. You sell me cotton for a year, and I let you sell cotton cloth for a year. If one day you go bankrupt, the cooperation will be canceled. How is it? ”

"It's all up to Master Wang." Huang Chongde's vest was sweating.

Wang Yuan is a popular person around the emperor, and a few words of slander can get rid of Huang Chongde's salt quote. No matter how hard the relationship behind him is, no matter how big his backer is, there is no match for the supreme imperial power.

not only canceled his share of salt introduction, but also investigated his previous.

Who is clean in the salt merchants?

At least there must be bribes for officials, and if you don't bribe, don't want to take salt to lead, you can directly raid your home if you find out.

Huang Chongde's posture became lower and lower, and finally he stood and spoke the whole time, and kept his head down and bent over. He glanced at those who were doing experiments and said, "I read Bachelor Wang's "Physics News" in the capital, and the study of physics is the study of heaven and man. There's a reluctant plea below. ”

"You say." Wang Yuan said.

Huang Chongde bent down and arched his hand: "The fifth son is thirteen years old this year, smart and studious, and has the courage to ask to join the disciple of Master Wang to study mind and physics. ”

Wang Yuan finally laughed: "It's okay, let him come." ”

The stone in Huang Chongde's heart also fell, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With this relationship, the cotton and cotton cloth business will be stable in the future, and it can be regarded as having one more backer from the DPRK and China.

Of course, Huang Chongde also has to repay the favor, he doesn't have to bribe Wang Yuan, the price is low when selling cotton, and the price is high when collecting cotton cloth.

In the future, if Wang Yuan can enter the cabinet, there is also hope that the Huang family's share of salt will increase, provided that he licks Wang Yuan to his heart's content.

Huang Chongde straightened in, bent over and left, and paid for the servants of the Wang family who were in charge of guiding the way.

Near evening, the servant came in again to report: "Master, someone from Li Ge's old mansion has come up." ”

"Please!" Wang Yuan said.

Li Dongyang's old servant came in and said, "Bachelor Wang, my lord has been approved by His Majesty, please take the time to go to the house." ”

Li Dongyang, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, has finally retired!