It is said that the consumption power factor remains unchanged, and the decline in commodity prices should stimulate consumption more, and now the price of salt has been cut by more than half, and the people still can't afford to eat salt. No matter how poor you are, the price of salt has been cut by more than half, so you can't afford not to eat salt.

At this time, Lu Hou continued:

"The old man and the king of Xian have sent people to various places to investigate in detail several times, but there is no result, the old man hopes that the Marquis of Yongxing can give the old man a result as soon as possible."

"Definitely, I will give Lu Hou a satisfactory answer as soon as possible."

"Well, the old man believes that with the ability of Yongxing Hou, he will be able to find out. There is another thing, the old man wants to ask Yongxing Hou. ”

"Lu Hou, please speak."

"The old man wants to know that since the establishment of Yongxing City, the annual need for manganese is huge, what is in the city, what do you want so many manganese to do, and it is related to white alkali?"

"Oh, how can Lu Hou see that it has something to do with white alkali?"

"Hehe, that Ding Su transports thousands of stones of white alkali from Yongxing City every quarter, so the old man guesses that there must be some way in Yongxing City to turn miscanthus into white alkali, although Ding Su only pulls away a part, but there must be other places in the city that use alkali, but so?"

"I really can't hide it from you, miscanthus nitrate can indeed be refined white alkali, and it is two kinds of white alkali, one is soda ash, and what Ding Su took away is caustic soda, which is more powerful than the former, but it is not directly refined, it requires complex skills, Lu Hou doesn't want to do this caustic soda business, right?"

"The old man doesn't care what alkali is, he only knows that this alkali is very useful, if he can obtain a large amount, the profit will not be less than the salt profit, Yongxing Hou can refine white alkali, I don't know if he can cut love."

"Does Luhou want a white alkali method?"

"Exactly!"

Baili Yan never expected that Lu Hou would find another way to seek other businesses.

Although alkali is not completely monopolized by the government at present, the market is not smaller than salt, and leather, metallurgy, dyeing, cotton washing, bleaching, papermaking, smelting, armor and so on all need alkali.

The current alkali mainly comes from naturally harvested soda ash, including sodium carbonate, lime, and plant ash. Sodium carbonate reacts with quicklime to obtain caustic soda, but Bailiyan has not yet discovered the current spread of the technology of using soda ash and quicklime to add water to produce caustic soda, and the Ligong school has not mastered it.

First, it may be that there are not many natural soda ash ores in the Central Plains, mainly in the form of brine and solid ores, and the current exploration is underdeveloped, which is difficult to effectively discover and utilize.

Although baking soda and quicklime can also react to generate caustic soda, this process is unstable and full of accidents, even if it appears, it is difficult to spread widely with the current productivity and information transmission speed.

For example, there is no natural soda ash ore in Xianguo, at least it has not been found, but miscanthus nitrate is extremely rich, and miscanthus nitrate can be used as medicine after processing, because the calcined miscanthus nitrate produces sodium sulfate, which can indirectly obtain caustic soda, and its alkalinity is stable and very powerful

As the most monopolistic industry at present, the huge profits obtained by salt are extremely amazing, and caustic soda is an important part of the three acids and two alkalis in modern chemistry, and the amount required by all walks of life is extremely amazing.

Of course, halogen will not see the future, but only the profits brought by the soda ash and caustic soda required for the current production are still very huge.

It is not even ruled out that Ding Su can dump caustic soda so smoothly in Zhiguo, and it is Lu Hou who uses Ding Su as a guinea pig behind his back and goes to Zhiguo, Song, and Xu to test the waters.

Thinking through the stakes, Bailiyan was even more confident, and also found a means to deal with these powerful people.

After a little consideration, Bai Liyan agreed:

"Since Lu Hou has spoken, if he is reluctant, it seems that he is not sincere in coming here today, but there is a request below, and I ask Lu Hou to agree."

"But it doesn't hurt to say it."

"There are many methods of alkali production, and at the moment it involves the secrets of our Xian country, so I also ask Lu Hou to send reliable people to Yongxing City, and another refining pool can be opened.

In addition, alkali refining is somewhat dangerous, so be sure to abide by the refining regulations, and if you are not careful, you will be planted in it and burned into white bones. I remember that six years ago, when the alkali pond was expanded, a newcomer was planted in the alkali pond, and in the end he didn't even catch the bones. ”

"It's easy to say, as long as you can refine the Fa, everything will be arranged from Yongxing Hou."

Lu Hou happily agreed, and Bai Liyan continued:

"In addition, here today, there is really a matter of asking for Luhou, because it involves the country, and I hope that Luhou will help him."

"Say it, but if the old man is within his ability, Yongxing Hou can say it."

"Actually, I want to borrow 10,000 inches of gold and 200,000 inches of silver from Lu Hou."

Lu Hou was taken aback when he heard the news:

"Yongxing Hou Nan has seized a lot, why do you suddenly want to borrow such a huge amount of money to do anything, is it because the king refuses?"

"No, there is another reason for this, stay in the next and talk to Lu Hou in detail."

After talking about the matter of Qianfang and Lu Hou in detail, Lu Hou was even more surprised:

"Will it be too expensive to cast bronze coins from gold and silver?"

"It is a bit of a fee, but it is of great benefit to stabilize the value of copper coins, and it is also more conducive to buying and trading in other countries, so that the copper coins of our Xian country will be more valuable, so that they can flow into other countries for trading, without the need to exchange copper coins for gold and silver, and then exchange them for copper coins in other countries, or trade in pure gold and silver, which will be more beneficial to our country."

"But the old man heard that some powerful people can smelt copper with copper money, and then sit back and wait for the price of copper and lead to rise before selling it to the government to earn the difference, so it will not repeat the mistakes of the past."

"Please rest assured, it has been calculated. Since coal was controlled by the imperial court, Haoqiang used copper coins to extract copper, and at present, charcoal is the mainstay, and the cost is relatively small. After participating in gold and silver, if you want to refine gold and silver from copper coins, you can only smelt it with coal with a higher price, and it needs to be smelted several times, so the cost is high, and it cannot be completely refined, so it is extremely uneconomical. Moreover, there will not be too much gold and silver in the new money, so the cost of refining gold and silver is very large. ”

"Then why don't you use the treasure brought back by the Southern Expedition, wouldn't it be more abundant?"

"By no means, Lu Hou knew that the price of salt plummeted after the sharp increase in salt production, and after the gold and silver flowed into the people, he also followed this principle, so the gold and silver would become worthless. It may also be swept away by the Jin Kingdom, so it is agreed with the king that this treasure will not be used for the time being, until the situation improves, and then consider it in the long run. ”

"Well, the Marquis of Yongxing has made great contributions to my Xianguo, although the old man does not know the political strategy, but since the king has handed over the important task to the Marquis of Yongxing, the old man can also trust it. In this case, the old man immediately ordered someone to raise 10,000 inches of gold and 200,000 inches of silver to transport it, if it was not enough, Yongxing Hou just opened his mouth. As for when it will be repaid, there is no rush for a while.

By the way, Yan Gongzi just said, what does it mean to invest in dividends? ”

"Oh, so it is so, when the gold and silver are raised and minted into new money, the interest will be used to attract the people or the rich to deposit it in the money house, and the money will be used by the money for agriculture and commerce, and the profits generated from it will be gold, silver, copper, or commodities.

These can be used as interest to pay the due interest at the price of the goods in the current month or quarter. The dividend is the profit division after the profit at the end of the year.

Of course, if you lose money, there will be no dividends, and the losses will be borne by those who have advanced huge funds. But in the final analysis, the money shop is guaranteed by the state treasury, so as long as the situation improves, it is a business that only makes money and does not lose money. ”

"Why does the old man think that after talking for a long time, in the end, it is better to borrow the old man's money first."

"Hehe......" Bai Liyan smiled embarrassedly: "What Lu Hou said is not bad, the method of Qianfang is indeed the method of borrowing, but in the past, borrowing could only be between individuals, but now it can be dismantled, and it can be borrowed from the whole country. ”

"This is a good way, Yongxing Hou, you can do it with confidence, and the old man will definitely help."

In the final analysis, Qianfang is still a state-owned institution, with the guarantee of the treasury and treasures, and after the national strength stabilizes and recovers, it will only make money, not lose.

Of course, corruption in the administrative apparatus is a cancer that cannot be ignored, and no matter how profitable the hen is, there is no good environment, and there are times when he starves to death.

After agreeing with Luhou about fundraising, Bailiyan did not rush to report to King Xian, but waited for a few days for Luhou to pass on his meaning to King Xian.

On September 30, in order to find out the country's acres, taxes and coinage, Bailiyan was busy until dark, although he knew that there was a lot of water in it, but he still had to have a number in his heart.

When he left the palace, it was already dark, Jiang Jie followed him to and from work every day, and Bai Liyan hadn't figured out how to arrange where he would go to work.

wanted to transfer him to the palace, but he was worried about the cruelty of the political struggle, so he was transferred to command the army, and with his ability, it was more than enough to serve as a captain, but Bai Liyan was afraid that he was not around, and he was too young to be calm, which was really embarrassing.

Holding Feiyu and handing the reins of the horse to Bai Liyan, Jiang Jie asked:

"Master Hou, why do you have to ride flying feathers to and from the palace every day, and ride the chariot rewarded by the king so magnificently."

"It's magnificent to ride in a chariot, but how much time to waste on the road, it's much faster to ride a flying feather. In addition, the chariot is huge, and there is no way to give way everywhere it passes, which not only disturbs the people, but also allows some people who tell the truth to attack Benhou with their mouths. ”

"But the prince, the Marquis of Dingyang, the Marquis of Xuanting, and the Marquis of Lu all took the chariot rewarded by the king, and no one criticized it, why did the Hou Ye take the chariot and be criticized."

"You have been in the army for many years, and you know very little about the affairs of the court, this court is an invisible knife, killing people without seeing blood, you are still young, in the future, follow Benhou to see more and talk less, often say the wrong word, you may lose your head."

"My subordinates understand."

In fact, the current political atmosphere is quite enlightened, allowing ideas to tolerate the contention of a hundred schools of thought, which is far less than stifling speech and suppressing ideological creation in the Ming and Qing dynasties. But there is nothing wrong with being cautious, after all, 5,000 years of history is like a mirror, always alert.

Not far from the palace wall, a luxurious chariot drove on, with the lantern of the Xuanting Marquis's Mansion.

Baili Yan's flying feather is also a famous BMW in Chenling, even if you don't recognize Bai Li Yan herself, when you see the tall horse, you also know that it is Bai Li Yan's flying feather. The groom then stopped, turned back to Princess Lanyuan in the car, and said:

"Your Royal Highness Princess, the front looks like the Marquis of Yongxing."

"Stop the car and call him."

"No!"

The coachman stopped the carriage and stepped forward to Bailiyan with a lantern:

"Your Excellency is the Marquis of Yongxing?"

"Exactly, ahead is the carriage of the Xuanting Marquis Mansion."

"Yes, Madame is in the car, please move and speak."

Bailiyan turned over and dismounted, handed Feiyu to Jiang Jie, and came to the car with the coachman, Princess Lan Yuan picked up the curtain, looked at it through the gap and said:

"Yongxing Hou, please get in the car."

"Mother-in-law is here, but there is something important?"

"Get in the car and talk."

In order to avoid suspicion, men are generally not allowed to enter the car of a lady or lady of a large family at will, and women should not let strange men who are not relatives or relatives enter the car, and sons and sons-in-law are a different matter.