After the division of Hebei, the area of Beizhi has shrunk sharply, but Beizhi, as the capital of the Ming Dynasty, is a political and cultural center in the world, and its influence is self-evident, and its status determines the commercial value of the Jingshi cement franchise.

Moreover, at the investment promotion conference, Zhang Guoji also confided that Zhu Youxiao will use cement to build a gallop road from Beijing to Tianjin in February next year, which means that obtaining the franchise of Beijing will not only be able to obtain real profits immediately, but also may get more such opportunities in the future.

As soon as the merchants below heard that it was the auction of the franchise of the Jingshi, their eyes instantly turned red. This time, unlike the previous seven auctions, this time almost all the merchants from all over the country who felt they were powerful participated.

The reserve price of the auction of the franchise of the Jingshi was 20,000 taels of silver, and the price of more than 20 taels of silver was more than 100,000 taels of silver. After reaching 100,000 taels, the rate of price increase decreased slightly, but it was only less than half a stick of incense, and the price climbed again to 150,000 taels of silver dollars. Fifteen taels of silver dollars seemed to have reached the limit, and the price increase had dropped sharply each time.

"Two hundred thousand taels!" An amazing offer appeared. The quotation is Huizhou salt merchant Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan, a representative of the Hui merchants in this period, and a representative of the two Huai salt merchants. In history, he was the first general merchant of the Jiang family, serving for thirty-four years.

In 1617, Yuan Shizhen, Li Ruhua and others jointly promoted the reform of the salt industry in the Ming Dynasty and implemented the program system. The implementation of the program system made Jiang Yan a huge rich man in the two Huai. From the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the salt merchants were truly rich and controlled a large amount of the country's wealth.

Zhu Youxiao slaughtered all sides in Shanxi, so that everyone did not dare to act rashly, which made Zhu Youxiao not receive much resistance when he implemented the policy of abolishing salt introduction in Shanxi. But Zhu Youxiao's move still made the salt merchants feel the crisis.

When Zhu Youxiao implemented the cement franchise, some salt merchants began to focus on cement production, and Jiang Yan was one of the representatives.

The price of 200,000 taels directly made other people give up the competition, after all, cement is still just a new thing, how much market capacity is there? How much profit it can bring is not yet known? Unlike table salt, it is not a necessity of life.

On the first day, the auction of the franchise brought Zhu Youxiao more than 600,000 taels of silver dollars, which Zhu Youxiao did not expect, and he expected that the auction of the entire franchise might be at most 1 million taels of silver dollars, after all, the maximum income was the 10 percent of the profits.

"Li Yongzhen, Tai Kangbo, the two of you will set up a banquet to entertain these businessmen later, I will not come forward, and I will come forward on the last day." Zhu Youxiao said.

"No. The minister will arrange it immediately. Li Yongzhen said.

"Also, you can confide in them at the banquet that I am going to build a road." Zhu Youxiao admonished. Zhu Youxiao felt that if he wanted to sell at a high price, he must have enough profits. In any period, the simplest analysis of behavioral motivation is, in the final analysis, only two words: profit.

"I understand." Zhang Guoji nodded and said.

……

Although the banquet of the day was temporarily arranged, the grade was not low, and Li Yongzhen went out to a restaurant with a very high grade in Beijing. Nearly half of the businessmen who participated in the investment promotion meeting knew Zhang Guoji, and the atmosphere of the whole banquet seemed unrestrained. What's more, among the businessmen who can participate in the investment promotion, which one is not exquisite, even if they don't know Zhang Guoji and Li Yongzhen, on this occasion, everyone will try their best to get close to the two, which is a very rare high-end social opportunity for them.

When everyone was drunk, Zhang Guoji raised his glass again and said: "I wish you a prosperous cement business!" Drink a lot! ”

"Xie Tai Comber, drink a lot!" Everyone raised their glasses together.

After a cup, Zhang Guoji said: "Do you know that the next ten to twenty years will be the most profitable time for cement." ”

"I wonder why Tai Comber said this?" Jiang Yan asked curiously. Jiang Yan and Zhang Guoji are old acquaintances, and he is an important member of Zhang Guoji's caravan.

"Your Majesty intends to build two main gallop roads from Beijing to Guangzhou and from Beijing to Xi'an, of course, this is only the goal of recent years, and more gallop roads will be built in the future." Zhang Guoji said.

"Sss Hearing this information, many businessmen present gasped.

"Tai Comber, I wonder if the news is true?" When Jiang Yan heard the news, he felt a little incredulous.

"Of course it's true, when did I cheat on you?" Tai Comber swore an oath.

"We can confirm that this news is true. His Majesty is already planning this matter, but he has not yet discussed it with the Cabinet, but His Majesty has said that even if the Cabinet does not agree, His Majesty will allocate money from Nenu to support the construction of these two roads. Li Yongzhen said.

"If you count the labor expenses to build a cement road from Beijing to Guangzhou, it will take about three million to four million taels of silver dollars." Jiang Yan quickly calculated the amount of money needed in his mind.

"Your Majesty said that the proceeds from this auction and the cement profits in the future will be invested in the construction of the Chi Road. If it weren't for the criticism of someone in the imperial court, and His Majesty asked me to give up the cement and do a good job of the ocean-going caravan, I would really be reluctant to hand over the cement to you for production. Zhang Guoji said regretfully.

"It's too Comber Gaoyi, I won't forget it." Everyone said together.

"Come, everybody toast Tai Comber." Jiang Yan said.

"I know the cement, and I have also seen the road construction from Mubang to Yunnan, which is really easy to use, and it is much cheaper than using glutinous rice juice. I believe that in the future, a lot of cement will be used in building houses, building bridges, etc. We will keep in mind such righteous deeds as Tai Comber, and if Tai Comber sends any in the future, I will give orders. Liu Qi stood up and said.

"If Tai Comber sends anything in the future, we will definitely be on call." Everyone also said along.

……

These businessmen are also skeptical about Zhu Youxiao's decision to build a large number of Chi Dao, and this kind of thing is not something that anyone can make them believe immediately. But for businessmen, since there are such rumors, they will definitely start to prepare, and they will never wait for things to start before they prepare.

Whether this news is true or not, it also makes the competition for the next day's merchants fierce. The next day, the issuer of the franchise certificate has changed from Li Yongzhen to Wang Liqian, at this time in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Liqian's status is a little higher than Li Yongzhen, he is a close confidant of Zhu Youxiao's cronies, and his arrival has made these businessmen feel at ease.