Shang Cheng listened to Yang Heng's words, thought about it seriously, and then said, "I can't help you with any ideas about this." After a pause, he added, "However, Huo's Liquor is open for business, and it will not offend customers casually." Although your Ministry of Industry is a yamen opened by the imperial court, in terms of the purchase and sale of liquor, you are now their biggest customer, so they shouldn't be smiling you, right? ”

Yang Heng was silent.

Chang Xiu's face was clouded again. Huo's Wine Farm will not be simplified? It's a joke! Although the Yanshan Huo family has just made a fortune with liquor, and their wealth is far from being strong, they rely on their background and backers, and now they have a somewhat indifferent posture to the Ministry of Industry, not only refusing to come forward to help the Ministry of Industry deal with those liquor workshops, but also using the contract to "threaten" the Ministry of Industry, and the words they say can make people jump to their feet. That's it, it can also be called "won't be simplified and slow"?

When Chang Xiu was complaining that the Huo Family Liquor did not treat the Ministry of Industry as a guest, Shang Cheng never interjected. He didn't agree with Chang Xiu's words. When Huo Yue came over a few days ago, he didn't mention this matter to him, so he couldn't simply think that it was all the Huo family's responsibility because of Chang Xiu's words. What's more, he felt that what Chang Xiu said might not be the truth. Chang Xiu's dignified Ministry of Works, it is impossible for him to go to talk to Huo Yue about any business and lawsuit, right? Therefore, the situations that Chang Xiu said can only be the reports of those officials of the Ministry of Industry after they hit the wall, and it is difficult to say how much water there is.

He listened to Chang Xiu while holding the teapot. He saw that there was not much tea in Chang Xiu's cup, and he was ready to help him refill the water. But when I picked up the teapot in my hand, I realized that the portion was very light, and there was not much tea soup in the pot. After Chang Xiu finished speaking, he stood up with the teapot and said to the guests, "I'll let them serve another pot of good tea." ”

While he was talking, the maid Rouge came in with a wooden pallet. There were two jugs on a wooden plate, and the spouts were still steaming white. After changing the tea, she withdrew lightly.

Shang Cheng refilled Chang Xiu's water, filled Yang Heng's cup with his hand, glanced at Tian Xiu and motioned for her to take care of herself, sat down again, picked up the topic just now and said: "Wen Shigong, the affairs of your Ministry of Industry and the Huo family, I am really not an outsider to deal with it. I'm still talking about that, and everyone sits down and talks calmly. He paused, and changed to a tone that was both comforting and persuasive. I know that your Ministry of Industry must have your own ideas, and I hope that the Huo family can help you and let those workshops suffer lawsuits. But from another point of view, the Huo family also has their difficulties. If you sue people into the yamen at every turn, whether they are justified or not, at least they will leave a bad impression on people and have a bad reputation. One by one, right? ”

Shang Cheng said this truth, Chang Xiu couldn't help but nod. Whether it is the official gentry or the common people, they are not forced to the point of desperation, and they are usually unwilling to go to court. When people evaluate a family, if the family has not entered the yamen for many years and generations, and has not been in a lawsuit, this is a good reputation in itself. From this point of view, he really can't blame the Huo family's wine field for standing by and watching. He sighed and said helplessly, "Then what do you say?" ”

"Let's sit down and talk."

Chang Xiu was so angry that he twisted his face to the side. Talk, talk! You, Shang Yanshan, will only say this? If we can talk about it, why will the Ministry of Industry encounter such a big trouble?

Shang Cheng pretended not to see his annoyance, and patiently continued: "Take the opportunity to revise the contract, invite those possible buyers and the owners of the workshops that have already started to the capital, the Huo family, your Ministry of Industry and these merchants, everyone sit together and discuss the matter of this liquor carefully......"

"It can't be!" Chang Xiu interrupted him impatiently and said, "If those people were willing to talk to us, we wouldn't be where we are now!" You haven't seen the faces of those people, the left sentence is 'compete with the people for profit', the right sentence is 'clever and robbing', and they can't wait to smash all the bad things on the head of our Ministry of Industry. It seems that as long as our Ministry of Industry sells liquor, it will be spurned by thousands of people! He took a sip of the lamp, but he finally suppressed the nameless fire in his heart, stared at the sunlight scattered in the courtyard outside the door, and tensed his face and didn't want to speak anymore.

Shang Cheng could understand his feelings. He could also imagine why the businessmen who made Chang Xiu unhappy had the intention of going against the Ministry of Works. Needless to ask, most of the officials sent by the Ministry of Industry to negotiate with those businessmen set up the shelf of "Lao Tzu is the best in the world", and when they went up, they interfered with others and blamed them indiscriminately, and finally annoyed people, which attracted so much right and wrong. Obviously, it was because of the improper handling of the Ministry of Industry that the public was angry. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the local government to bury piles and stab the Ministry of Industry in unison.

He stopped talking, waited for a while, and estimated that Chang Xiu's mood calmed down a little before continuing: "Don't mention the previous things now." This time, if the Ministry of Industry can revise the contract with the Huo family, and is willing to take out the liquor workshops for sale, and can prepare skilled craftsmen for these workshops, I believe that those businessmen will change their original intentions, they should be able to recognize the rights and interests of the Ministry of Industry in liquor, and they will definitely be willing to pay a sum of money and grain to the Ministry of Industry in exchange for the Ministry of Industry's production authorization. ”

"What if they don't?" Chang Xiu asked sarcastically.

"They'll agree." Shang Cheng said calmly.

Chang Xiu looked at Shang Cheng with a mocking look, sneered and said, "Then I want to see Uncle Ying's methods." ”

Seeing the waiter of the Ministry of Works and the waiter of the Ministry of War arguing like two children, Tian Xiu and Yang Heng, who were sitting below, really couldn't cry or laugh. In this case, they can neither go up to persuade nor turn a blind eye, let alone express any opinions indiscriminately, so they simply hold a cup of tea in their hands, bow their heads slightly, stare at their feet and be silent, and they all begin to seriously think about and experience the "high views" of the two adults.

Shang Cheng said: "The existing workshops are actually very easy to solve, as long as they recognize the contract signed between the Ministry of Industry and the Huo family, and recognize the dominant position of the Ministry of Industry in this business, the problem can be solved." ”

"Solution? If only it were that easy. Chang Xiu stiffly cross-examined.

"It's not that hard." Shang Cheng said, "As long as you issue an official document in the name of the Ministry of Industry, affirming that the process of liquor is the first of the Huo Distillery, and then making public the production authorization you have obtained from Huojia Baijiu, then everyone will naturally understand what kind of origin the liquor is." In this case, those workshops that have neither been authorized by the Huo family nor approved by the Ministry of Industry to reproduce liquor are stealing from teachers. People will naturally be able to see what is right and what is wrong. As for what will happen to those who steal the teacher and steal the art, I don't need to be wordy, right? ”

Chang Xiu was stunned. That's a good idea. No matter what you do, as long as you have anything to do with the words "steal" and "steal", you can't have a good reputation. As long as the evidence of the crime is conclusive, compensation for the plaintiff's losses is a trivial matter, depending on the severity of the circumstances, from fines and rods to flail and even exile. At that time, the Ministry of Industry will hold the contract in one hand and occupy the word "reason", and hold the workshop in the other hand to occupy the word "profit".

However, it was good to say everywhere, but there was only one thing that made him scratch his head: this official document was not easy to write. There is no precedent for the Ministry of Industry to issue a document to publicly recognize the liquor process of Huo's Liquor Farm. As soon as the official document came out, what would the court think, and what would the people think? The Huo family is the only one to get this benefit, so what about the others? Now that liquor is disposed of like this, if he is similar to other businesses in the future, will he also act according to the rules? Again, since the process of liquor belongs to the Huo family, and even the Ministry of Industry needs the authorization of the Huo family to produce liquor if it wants to sell liquor, then the liquor workshops in the Central Plains must also be the head of the Ministry of Industry, and every household must give the Huo family a share of profits. The Huo family can't hold this cash cow for dozens or hundreds of years, right? He is not jealous of the Huo family's money, but he is worried about the Huo family, such a big fortune will one day cause trouble...... Thinking about it, he told Shang Cheng all his worries. Yang Heng also added two sentences next to him, saying: "The process of liquor did come out of the Huo family at the earliest, which is clear to our entire ministry. However, please note that the Huo family and the Ministry of Industry are both within the authorized production contracts of the two companies, one is Party A and the other is Party B, and they are already involved in each other's interests, and they cannot be used as evidence for each other, and they must be avoided according to the "Da Zhao Law". ”

"Then the Yanshan Guards will come forward to testify." Shang Cheng said, "The liquor was originally commissioned by Yanshan Weifu to be trial-produced by the Huo family in Yixian County, and the money and grain for the early test process were also lent by Yanshan Weifu; These are well documented. Later, the liquor was a great success, and the Huo family also added interest when repaying the money and grain, and was happy to lose tens of thousands of catties of liquor to the Yanshan Guard, and the imperial court also rewarded it. With these things to testify, the Ministry of Industry will issue this official document again. As for how many years the Huo family's unique craftsmanship can be maintained, this needs to be considered by your Ministry of Industry, or ten or twenty years, anyway, it is impossible for the Huo family to enjoy this right for generations to come. There is another one, others pay the Huo family for the process of this liquor today, then someone will make technological innovations another day, and the Huo family wants to use other people's technology, so the Huo family will have to pay others before they can obtain authorization. Moreover, the new process is an innovation on the basis of the Huo family, or a new process, and the two also need to be different. Of course, in the end, he said that his words were all suggestions with his thoughts, just the words of a family, and the specific way to do it should be discussed and considered by the Ministry of Industry itself.

He opened his mouth and talked farther and farther, from liquor to grain and then to technological innovation, commodity circulation, market development, either people's livelihood or economy, Yang Heng and Tian Xiu listened to it with relish, and the two of them nodded frequently and sang peace. Chang Xiu is already over fifty years old, and his brain can't keep up with his age, and secondly, he is not an expert in this field, so he has long been confused. finally waited until Shang Cheng's mouth was dry, stopped talking and drank water, and immediately interjected: "What Uncle Ying said is extremely true. It's just that looking at the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties, there is no precedent for this move, even if the Ministry of Industry has the intention to match, I am afraid that the court will not be able to agree. ”

Shang Cheng frowned, and asked him rhetorically with a teacup: "If the imperial court can't let go of a hole in the liquor, the glass comes out, and the craftsmanship spreads, what will you do at that time?" Do you close your own workshop first, and then come to the ring with others? ”

Chang Xiu Yileng. That's right, and glass, if the glass is successfully fired in the end, and someone comes to steal the art, how should the Ministry of Industry take measures?

Thinking of the glass with an uncertain future, Chang Xiu gritted his teeth and made up his mind to make this happen. As long as the liquor is done, there is a precedent for the glass to come out, which is just the ownership of the glass process by the Ministry of Engineering. At that time, regardless of whether he is Chen Wang, Gu Zhang or Deng Song, Li Zhao, the Ministry of Industry will hold the glass process, and whoever comes will not recognize the six relatives. Hey, at that time, whoever wanted to burn glass had to pay a licensing fee to the Ministry of Industry!

It's just that the premise of this license fee is that the glass must be fired first. And to fire the glass, the matter has to fall on Shang Yanshan's head.

The matter of liquor was resolved smoothly, and his confidence in this trip was two points higher. Even millions of stone of grain can be solved, let alone a glass of glass?

To be honest, Shang Chengzhen didn't know how to fire glass. But in the face of Chang Xiu, who spoke sincerely, as well as Yang Heng, who was tired and thin, and Tian Xiu, who couldn't hide his tired face, he couldn't bear not to help them. In desperation, he had to ask again what he had already asked several times. He said: "Lord Tian, Lord Yang, what difficulties have you encountered, and where have you come now, can you tell me specifically?" ”