There were stables on both sides of the shop, and Li Guozhu could see that there were about a hundred horses, all of them were very fat and strong, and they were all quietly bowing their heads and eating forage at this time, and the new horses were brought over caused a small commotion, but they quickly calmed down.

Some young men were cleaning the compartments of the carts placed on both sides, and the black bodies were quickly scrubbed.

Everyone looked full of confidence and energy, robes, costumes, and mental outlook, all of which Li Guozhu had never seen since he got off the ship in Tianjin.

The people in the north are far less wealthy than in the south, and most of them are not as enterprising as the south, but the northerners are tall and the southerners are short and thin.

The front is a large number of houses, through the middle hall, it can be seen that there are rooms for resting, inside is a large blue brick warehouse, Li Guozhu glanced at it, and saw that it was some groceries and food, and it was also the main carrier materials of the Yusheng mule and horse shop.

Some merchants rested in the wings on both sides of the main hall, and some people came out to chat in the lobby, where there were a few strange-looking stoves in the four corners, and although the lobby was large, the room was very warm, and as soon as I entered the door, I felt a hot breath.

Several businessmen were studying by the stove, and Li Guozhu was also very interested, and even Jiang Kui ran away.

"This is the latest production of Heyusheng." A big guy saw that there were a lot of people, and stood aside and introduced: "This is called a heating stove, the official name is the word stove, which was designed by us and Yusheng's Lord Zhang personally, and the heating effect does not have to be blown by us, everyone has felt it personally." ”

"How much?" A Henan businessman smiled: "We know warmth, and what we want to know most now is how much it is." ”

"According to the size, the C-shaped furnace is suitable for bedrooms, study rooms and other single rooms, and the B-shaped furnace is suitable for heating the small hall...... However, the house is still too big, we used two, of course the effect is better, this must be made clear in advance. ”

"How much silver!" The Henan businessman said helplessly.

The guy smiled: "Seventy taels for the A furnace, fifty taels for the B furnace, and thirty-five taels for the C furnace." ”

"Good boy!" The Henan businessman said: "Such a big furnace is worth more than ten acres of land." ”

"It's not for the people." The big guy said apologetically: "At least in the past few years, to put it bluntly, this thing is to make the money of the rich, if you have a net worth of tens of thousands of taels or even more, spend dozens of taels in the house to set up a stove, you are not afraid of freezing your hands and feet in winter, and you don't have to wear big wool clothes at home, and it will be cold when you go to the pit." However, if it is difficult to give up the good money, you are willing to carry it, and then you don't have to spend this money. ”

Li Guozhu is very interested, the winter of the Wa Kingdom is also cold, the harbor place is better, and it is not much better to go inside than the north of the Ming Dynasty, this furnace effect is really good, and it is estimated that he can get rid of it if he goes to the Wa Kingdom, but he has a lot of doubts in his heart, and said to the big guy with a smile at the moment: "This stove is knocked out of iron pieces left and right, and the cost will not be very high, how can it be sold so expensive?" ”

The big guy said: "Our adults said, from design to finalization, of course, the previous cost must be counted, this furnace is made of fine iron, but it is not pure iron...... Pure fine iron, how can it heat? If it can heat up and keep warm, this is also the cost. ”

"I see." Li Guozhu smiled with relief, and then said: "Although what your lord said is good, but people buy it and imitate it, and you don't have this kind of cost, isn't it much cheaper?" If someone else's is cheap, I'm afraid it will be difficult to sell yours, and we will take the goods at a high price, that is, we will suffer a loss. ”

All the merchants nodded, the effect of this stove is in front of them, even if it is expensive, it will definitely be sold, their worries are exactly what Li Guozhu said, if the small blacksmith shop can also be knocked out, the cost is a few taels and one, then they will lose money.

"Of course we have this in mind." The big guy said energetically: "First, the product should have a unique design and process, so that it is difficult to imitate, this furnace looks simple, in fact, it is very ingenious, imitation is not so easy, plus the quality of fine iron, with the process, the quality of the general imitation must be much worse." Second, it is to make a name for himself and make some fancy things on the stove, so that people can know that they are worth a lot of money at a glance, and it is an exclusive product of He Yusheng. People who are willing to spend dozens of taels to buy this thing are definitely not good for people to see that they have bought a worthless imitation from home. ”

Li Guozhu nodded at this time, and he also saw that there were indeed some finely carved patterns on the stove, as well as some copper decorations, which seemed to be really valuable...... If this thing is to be sold at a high price, there must be a certain technical difficulty in imitation, and then the brand effect will be played, and the psychology of the rich is indeed like this, willing to buy a stove for dozens of taels, it is categorically impossible to make people see jokes.

As for the inferior counterfeits, of course, the effect and appearance are a few grades worse, but it seems to be suitable for the use of ordinary people, from this level, it does not seize the market with He Yusheng, and it will not violate the interests of the merchants.

"Write it down," Li Guozhu turned his head to the servant beside him and instructed, "Take a hundred of these things back on the way back." ”

Li Guozhu did not bring much cash, but judging from the current cooperative relationship between the two sides, it is not a problem to bring the goods first and then pay the silver, and the three ships of goods are hundreds of thousands of taels, and the Li family can pay the cash.

"There's a lot more goodies." The big guy saw that they had ordered a hundred stoves, his face was red with joy, and he pointed to a big clock in the corner of the wall and said, "This thing is better......

Li Guozhu glanced at Jiang Kui and couldn't help laughing.

……

"It's okay, it's not very cold." A big man spewed white gas out of his mouth and sighed loudly about the weather in Chinese.

Beside this big man is also a group of men who are as thick as a bear and as tall as a bear, they lead their horses and walk on the official road, and the majestic and magnificent Lizhuang building complex is in front of them, and everyone begins to admire.

The scale of Lizhuang is now more than ten times larger than that of two years ago...... The original Zhuangzi has long been unable to see any traces of it, the ancestral hall was moved, a large number of grass houses have disappeared, in the northeast corner is a large living area, the earliest construction of a large area of courtyard is now in the middle of the zone, the periphery is a large number of white walls and blue tile houses, three positive, two partial, all are brick houses, this house is worth forty to sixty taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty, the general people simply cannot afford it, but here in Li Zhuang is the standard configuration of the house, just by virtue of this, it is enough to make the big men in front of them marvel.

Even more amazing is the large factory area...... More than ten miles of river water diversion, everywhere is the water wheel that diverts water, the water flow keeps driving the machine, far away can hear the sound of the jingling machine forging iron, the sound of the carpenter pulling the saw, the sound of the planer, the sound of the axe, and the roaring sound of the firearms bureau firing firearms, the whole workshop area is very huge, all are tall bricks, buildings, countless people in and out of the workshop area, a large number of finished products are transported out of the storage area by the horses and carts......

These people are trekking in the ice and snow fields, there are also slave-like serfs in the place where they are, living in wooden board houses, dilapidated and decayed, just barely able to survive, they come all the way, they are all blue wisps, the settlements are very poor conditions, they follow several big rivers all the way to the west, and then go south, they meet nothing more than the Mongols or barbarian aborigines, the herdsmen in the far north are even drinking blood in Rumao, after entering the Ming Dynasty, these people only see signs of civilization, when they see the situation on this side of Li Zhuang, You can imagine how big the impact is in their hearts.

"This place is simply more magnificent and convincing than the Great China Town, the capital of the Ming Kingdom."

"It deserves to be a truly civilized country."

"This place is really rich, I don't know what about the rest of the Ming Kingdom?"

"I heard the Ming people say that the Ming people in the south are richer and the cities are more prosperous......"

A group of Russians finally fell silent, their eyes spewing a fire-like light.

They were Petrin, Andrei Madov, and a dozen of their attachés.

A few years ago, Petrin set out from Tomsk, passed through Zhangjiakou, Xuanhua, Huailai, Changping, and arrived in Beijing, which the Russians called the Great China City, because they were official envoys, and although the Wanli Emperor did not receive them, he also gave them a letter of state, that is, a letter written in the name of Wanli to the then Russian Tsar Ovdorovich...... It was a successful diplomatic move, and the history of the most formal state-level engagement between China and Russia was revealed.

Petrin and Madoff came for the second time, mainly because of Zhang Han.

After seeing Zhang Han's ability, Petrin has been paying attention to and rising in the past two years, and last year, a large amount of supplies flowed into Mobei Mongolia, and the Russians felt it even though they were far away in Tomsk.

They have been trading with the Mongols for a long time, and want to trade with the Mongols with the specialties they have, but animal fat, walrus ivory, animal fur, bee wax, leather, tar, plant ash, rope, etc., which have always been very popular...... After crossing the Urals, the Russians traded with the Dutch and the British, exchanging them for woollen, clothing, weapons, saltpeter, lead, ...... The Russians found that the goods that were very popular in trade with Europe had almost no market on the side of the Mongols, and the Mongols needed more food, cloth, all kinds of wool, tea, medicinal materials, these things were exactly what the Russians also needed, and the trade between the two sides was almost complementary, until a few decades later, after the Russians had more industrial accumulation and wealth accumulation, they used gold and silver plus armaments and woolen wool to buy off the upper echelons of many tribes, and their influence penetrated deep into the steppe. Even after entering the modern world, the trade volume between China and Russia is pitifully low.