Zhang Bin, Li Jianfang, Li Jianmu, and Li Shuben made careful calculations, and finally decided that in the first year, they would invest about two million taels in the purchase of raw materials, the production of pills and medicine powder, plus other labor, packaging, etc., and the total investment would be about 2.5 million taels.

The money was calculated, but Zhang Bin was a little embarrassed, he boasted about Haikou at the beginning, four or five million taels was not a problem, but at this time, he found that for a while, he couldn't even take out two and a half million taels.

Originally, he had four or five million taels of silver, but in the past two years, he has attacked Batavia, supported the Ryukyus, defended the Daimyo's Mansion, helped Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting to form the Tianxiong Army and the Qin Army, built the Malacca Fortress, and built the Tanegashima base, and the warships of the Navy Division are constantly producing, and the soldiers in the east are also increasing.

This money is spent like flowing water, how much can be left?

He rushed home and asked his father and mother who were in charge of the money, and the deposit in the governor's palace was not even a million taels!

What to do?

At this time, it is not yet the end of the year, and the income of Dongshengtang has not been handed over, if Huang Peng, the treasurer of Dongshengtang Fujian, and Huang Cheng, the treasurer of Guangdong, are each supported by one million taels, this money can barely be scraped together, but in this way, Dongshengtang's business in Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, and even the operation of the governor's palace will be affected.

Dongshengtang can have ten shopkeepers at this time, and the income of a year is only more than 100000 taels, and it is evenly shared, and the income of each big shopkeeper is only 100,000 taels a year, this is only half a year, Huang Peng and Huang Cheng only have more than 500,000 taels of income in their hands, if they let them pay a million taels out of each person, then they will have to move the principal of their purchased goods, and the number of goods that can be purchased is quite terrifying, and their business is not affected!

Zhang Bin thought about it, and simply asked Li Jianfang, Li Jianmu and Li Shuben to prepare the basic information of the raw materials, and at the same time asked people to notify Cao Huachun, the big shopkeeper of Dongshengtang Nanzhili and Zhejiang, Cao Huayu, the big shopkeeper of Beizhili and Shandong, Dongying and Zheng Zhiyu, the big shopkeeper of North Korea, and asked them to send 500,000 taels of silver each, plus Huang Peng and Huang Cheng here, the five big shopkeepers are exactly 2.5 million taels, all of which are the income of the first half of the year, and there is no impact on their business.

The reason why he asked people to inform these shopkeepers was mainly because they were close to Dongfan, and they could send the silver by sea, and within ten days, the silver would be fully in place, while the other shopkeepers were either deep inland, or far away in the South Seas, and it would take at least a month or two for them to send the silver, and he didn't wait so long.

Cao Huachun, Cao Huayu and Zheng Zhiyu received Zhang Bin's order and sent the money one after another, but Zhang Bin did not let them go back immediately, but instead invited the political envoys of Fuguang and Guangzhou and the relevant person in charge of Jianning Pharmaceutical to hold a meeting in the Governor's Mansion to discuss the issue of pharmaceutical industrialization.

Pharmaceutical industrialization is a rather complex problem, to completely change the operation of an industry, its difficulty, the complexity of the process can be imagined, the common people and even high-ranking officials and nobles are accustomed to ask a doctor to see a doctor, and then grasp the process of decoction of medicine, now you tell them to buy a few pills and swallow them directly, or buy some medicine to soak in boiling water, drink it, people will get used to it, or will people believe it?

If there is no reference, starting from scratch, relying on the imagination of the head, to realize the industrialization of an industry, it is almost impossible to succeed, at least, one person, or a generation is impossible to succeed.

The end of the Ming Dynasty was in such a critical period of transformation from agriculture to commercialization, but in history, the transformation of the Ming Dynasty completely failed, so that the national strength declined, and the mite Qing Dynasty regressed for more than 100 years, and finally ended up being bullied.

There are many reasons for the failure of this transformation, and the conservative forces led by the emperor do not support it, and even oppose it, which is an important reason, and another important reason, that is, lack of experience, to put it simply, no one will do it.

Like the Longqing Dynasty and the early Wanli Dynasty, the atmosphere of the court is relatively relaxed, it can be said that if you can do it, you can do it, you can do it, but no one will do it, including Zhang Juzheng, can not get rid of the shackles of traditional agricultural concepts, so a change is not thorough, and the Ming Dynasty still failed to soar into the sky after all.

However, when it comes to Zhang Bin, experience is no longer a problem, not only in the pharmaceutical industry, but also in any industry, he knows how to do it, because he has experienced it in later generations, he knows what it looks like after the transformation, and naturally knows how to transform.

Of course, just because he understands doesn't mean that everyone under his command understands that everyone like he convened a meeting to discuss this matter, and everyone was almost confused.

What is this for, Your Excellency?

None of the people in the meeting understood, and they didn't even understand, why the Governor had brought together these people who didn't want to do it!

The people who attended the meeting this time were really a bit out of tune, and they couldn't figure out how the things they were responsible for would intersect.

So, who did Zhang Bin convene at this meeting?

There are local officials, such as Fujian Chengxuan political envoy Si Zuobu political envoy Bi Maokang, right political envoy Chen Zizhuang, Guangdong Chengxuan political envoy Si Zuobu political envoy Cai Shanji, right political envoy Zou Weilian, these four Fuguang local bigwigs are impressively listed, and there is also a Jianning Prefecture prefect Li Shuchu.

There are big shopkeepers in Dongshengtang, like Huang Peng, the big shopkeeper in Fujian and Jiangxi, Huang Cheng, the big shopkeeper in Guangdong and Guangxi, Cao Huachun, the big shopkeeper in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, Cao Huayu, the big shopkeeper in North Zhili and Shandong, Zheng Zhiyu, the big shopkeeper in Dongying and North Korea, and five of the top ten shopkeepers in Dongshengtang.

There are also several people at the helm of the Li clan in Qizhou, such as the only two sons of the medicine saint Li Shizhen, the third Li Jianfang, the fourth Li Jianmu, including the second Li Jianyuan's son Li Shuben is also impressively seated.

The whole conference room was silent, and the participants looked at me, and I looked at you, but they didn't understand what the Governor was trying to do.

There is an even more strange thing, he doesn't understand it at all, each of them has this thick pile of books in front of them, including the Governor, they can read the name of the book, "Compendium of Materia Medica" These four words are not known to anyone, but what is the meaning of giving each of them a "Compendium of Materia Medica"?

Zhang Bin looked at everyone with a blank look, and said slowly: "I invited everyone here today, mainly to discuss the matter of pills and pills, you may all know a little bit about it, I am ready to invest two and a half million taels of silver to produce more than ten kinds of pills and pills." ”

As soon as he said this, everyone's expressions were different, and the most calm were the few people at the helm of the Li clan in Qizhou, because they were responsible for the pills and pills, and they naturally knew this matter best, and the others were different.

Huang Peng and Huang Cheng and other big shopkeepers of Dongshengtang were worried, because they were worried that the money would be wasted; Bi Maokang and Cai Shanji and other local bigwigs are still at a loss, investing 2.5 million taels of silver to produce pills and pills, which is indeed a lot of money, but what does it have to do with them?

Zhang Bin looked at the expressions of Bi Maokang and others, and couldn't help but have some regrets in his heart, the officials of this era are too lacking in business acumen, if in the future, gather a few local officials to tell them that there is a project of hundreds of millions here, it is estimated that they would have already broken the head, but Bi Maokang They don't feel anything at this time!

This is the gap, the development of Daming is really a long way to go.

He sighed secretly in his heart, and then prompted: "The production of pills and pills is not only the business of the Li clan in Qizhou, nor is it just the business of Dongshengtang, think about it, what are these two and a half million taels used for, what will happen if one place invests two and a half million taels?" ”

The most clear thing here is actually Li Shuchu, because Zhang Bin has already told him that he wants to promote the cultivation of various medicinal materials in Jianning Mansion, and the Li family will specially send people to train medicinal farmers and plant various medicinal materials.

The cultivation of medicinal materials is naturally to be sold to Dongshengtang Jianning Pharmaceutical Factory, so that the income of the common people will increase exponentially, and the income of the common people will increase, which is a great thing for the development of the local area and the collection of taxes, at least he has realized this.

Bi Maokang and the others didn't understand it very well, but Zhang Bin's words were obviously said to them, and they had to think about it, what would happen if one place invested 2.5 million taels?

The first person to figure out is Cai Shanji, because there is a famous Luofu in Guangdong, which is at the junction of Huizhou and Guangzhou, where Chinese herbal medicine is specially produced, and it is quite famous.

What are these 2.5 million taels used for, anyone can figure this out, to make pills and medicine powder, it is natural to purchase raw materials, and these 2.5 million taels are mainly used to purchase raw materials.

If all the 2.5 million taels were invested in Huizhou Mansion to purchase Chinese herbal medicines produced by Luofu, it would be more terrifying, because the entire Huizhou Mansion has a population of less than 500,000 taels, and 2.5 million taels is an average of 5 taels per person.

What is the concept of twenty-five taels, a house in the city of Guangzhou is only fifty taels, and as long as the medicine farmer is busy for two years, he can become a relatively rich man!

Thinking of this, Cai Shanji immediately said excitedly: "Your Excellency Governor, you also know that Luofu Mountain is rich in Chinese herbal medicines, otherwise all these herbs will be purchased from there, right?" ”

At this time, Bi Maokang also reacted, he immediately shook his head and said: "Then how can it be done, Fuguang is one, Lord Governor, you can't favor one over the other!" ”

These guys finally got their heads enlightened, Zhang Bin nodded with a smile and said: "Don't worry, everyone has a share, these 2.5 million taels are just an advance investment, if Jianning Pharmaceutical can develop, at least tens of millions of taels of Chinese herbal medicine will be purchased a year." ”

Tens of millions of taels, this number really scared people, such a huge investment, the lives of the people in the two provinces will be turned upside down, Bi Maokang and Cai Shanji's eyes are bright, once this thing is done, the life of the people of Fuguang will inevitably be prosperous, and they will also become the parents of the people of Fuguang through the ages.

Zhang Bin looked at their expressions, and then picked up a stack of manuscript paper in front of him and introduced: "Here is a list of raw materials for more than ten kinds of pills and medicinal powders, you can take a good look at it first, if you really don't understand, you can consult the "Compendium of Materia Medica", and the numbers marked on it are the volume and page number of the "Compendium of Materia Medica". ”

After that, he divided the list in his hand into two halves and handed them to Bi Maokang and Cai Shanji on the left and right respectively, and asked them to distribute it.

Everyone got the list and looked at it seriously, except for the people of the Li family in Qizhou, everyone else would go to the "Compendium of Materia Medica" next to it from time to time to understand the basic information such as the origin, form, and harvest time of various herbs.

Zhang Bin carefully observed everyone's progress, and when everyone had seen almost it, he picked up the list in front of him and introduced: "There are two main kinds of pills and pills we want to make, one is ordinary pills and pills for the common people, such as Fenghan powder, antidote pills, etc., these are not very valuable, but the amount is quite large; The other is the high-grade pills and medicine powder that are specially sold to rich and noble families, such as Yishou pills, dragon tiger pills, etc., which are quite valuable, but the amount is definitely not too much, because there are not many people who use them. ”

Everyone nodded thoughtfully, they all vaguely understood that most of the common people still had to grow the raw materials of ordinary pills and pills, otherwise, no matter how much they planted, they would not be able to sell them.

Sure enough, Zhang Bin then introduced: "The people of Fuguang and Guangzhou should still plant the raw materials of ordinary pills and medicinal powder, for example, the raw materials of wind and cold powder, big green leaves, banlan root, forsythia, grass river car, mulberry leaves, chrysanthemums, bellflowers, raw materials for detoxification pills, tempeh, honeysuckle, forsythia, nepeta, mint, liskin, bellflower, banlan root, bamboo leaves, etc., are all ordinary Chinese herbal medicines that are ripe once a year, or even half a year, and the amount is also easy to go up, and each household opens one or two acres of mountainous land. It's very simple to earn more than a dozen taels a year. ”

Everyone has seen these things, basically they are relatively easy to plant, and if you plant them, you will basically have a harvest in a year or even half a year, and the amount is particularly large, such as mulberry leaves and mint, as long as you plant one or two acres, it is not a problem to harvest one or two thousand catties a year, even if it is a pound of silver, it is more than ten or twenty taels!

Zhang Bin then introduced: "The raw materials of high-grade pills and medicine powder are more troublesome, not to mention the long harvest cycle, it depends on the place. Astragalus, for example, generally takes three years to harvest and can only be grown in the north. Another example is Codonopsis, which generally takes four or five years to harvest, and can only be planted in the north. These profits can only be earned by Dongshengtang, Dongshengtang can support the squires in the north, a large number of mountain acquisitions, in order to plant these precious medicinal materials, how to operate, you yourself think about it, of course, if the origin was originally in the two provinces of Fuguang, you can also vigorously promote, but pay attention to the output, can not be a swarm, engaged in a serious surplus of raw materials, that is a waste. ”

Bi Maokang and the others had already shown eager expressions, if it weren't for Zhang Bin who hadn't said that the meeting would have ended, it is estimated that they would have to run back to organize people to plant these medicinal materials.

Zhang Bin glanced at them and said unhurriedly: "On the issue of medicinal herb planting, you can organize experienced medicine farmers to promote it, or you can go to Jianning Mansion and learn from the old Li family, I won't say much about this, now, let's discuss how to spread this pill and medicine." ”

When everyone heard this, they immediately showed the expressions of Huang Peng and Huang Cheng and other big shopkeepers, they all reacted at this time, this pill and medicine can only be turned into money if someone buys it, if no one buys it, it is not a matter of how much you have to lose!