Qianmen Street has always been the most prosperous commercial street in the Ming Dynasty, and the houses here dare not say that every inch of land is expensive, and ordinary shops cannot afford to pay the rent here. But on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar www.biquge.info the bustling Qianmen Street became extremely lively. In the heart of a prime location, a shop opened.

There was nothing unusual about the opening of the store, but what was unusual was the strong background displayed by the store. Those who have good deeds have been squatting here since the morning, only to see the commander of the Jinyi Guard, the Dongchang Yamen, the capital of the five armies, and even the officials of various ministries and the generals of the border army have sent congratulatory gifts. In the past, when other shops opened, there were always beggars who came to ask for money, but today there are none.

"Obediently, this formation shouldn't be a store opened by a prince, right?" Looking at this shop called Wanbao Pavilion, an idle man smacked his mouth and said.

"What do you know, the prince doesn't have such a big name, I heard that it was a nine-thousand-year-old godson who opened a shop." Another idler glanced at the man, and then gossiped.

"As far as you know, what does the nine-thousand-year-old godson do when he opens a shop, and people will collect the money while they are sitting." There are a lot of people who have nothing to do, and another one next to him said.

"What are you guys doing?!" A small flag officer of the brocade guard walked over and scolded a few idlers.

"The official is angry, we just want to watch the fun." The idlers didn't dare to mess with the people of Jinyiwei, and hurriedly apologized.

"If you are idle, go home and pick up the child, pollute the eyes and ears of the nobles, and watch me clean you up!" The little flag officer didn't have a good face for these people, and said sharply.

"The official forgives the sins, let's go." The idlers are all clever people, confessed their crimes, and got up to leave.

drove away a few idlers, and the little flag officer went to inspect elsewhere. It is said that the general store opens, where to ask the small flag officer to come forward, the general Jinyi Wei can calm the field, but today is too special, it is said that the Jinyi Wei commander Tian Ergeng will also come. The bosses are here, and these little brothers will naturally not open their eyes, of course, they have to perform well.

It was almost noon, and many princes and palaces in the capital also sent people or personally came to congratulate them.

After a burst of crackling firecrackers, Wanbao Pavilion officially opened its doors to let the onlookers enter to visit, and the spectators who had long been unable to suppress their curiosity poured in. Looking at the various Western clocks and watches in the Wanbao Pavilion, the audience was dazzled one by one, you must know that ordinary people have never seen Western clocks and watches, after all, there are only a dozen in the palace. They also learned that these things were called clocks and watches through the introduction of the shopkeeper, and when they learned that these treasures were generally not available in the palace, many people's eyes widened. It's just that the price of up to a few hundred taels also makes these people dumbfounded, a few hundred taels is enough to buy a house.

Of course, these people watching the excitement are not real customers, and in the backyard of Wanbao Pavilion, the shopkeepers of some shops are all chatting around the two carriages. These days, under Zhang Quan's arrangement, almost all the merchants around the capital know that there is such a new carriage that is more than twice as fast as the ordinary carriage, and many people even take the carriage, or at least follow these carriages to carry goods back and forth a few times.

As merchants, they can see at a glance the significance of the emergence of new horse-drawn carriages, and many people are discussing with their owners whether to eliminate the old-fashioned carriages. The saying that time is money may not be known to those present, but they know the meaning. Faster time, less wastage, means more profits.

The price of 500 taels per carriage has also made many merchants make small calculations, and the cost of such a carriage is more than 100 taels. The new carriage was five times more expensive, and although it was faster, it could make five old carriages for the same money. Is this new carriage cost-effective or not?

Of course, those who play this kind of calculation are not rich in family resources, of course, it is cost-effective for wealthy merchants, increasing the number of old-fashioned carriages means more people and more horses, and creating the same profits requires more investment, not to mention that driving veterans are not easy to find, and good groom wages are not low.

Were there many rich merchants in the Ming Dynasty? Of course, it is not a problem for them to take out a few thousand taels to replace a faster means of transport, and the only thing they are worried about now is the quality of this carriage.

Before they could ask about the maintenance of the carriage, they were told that it had been two months since the order for the carriage had been received due to a shortage of manpower. Of course, the workshop is increasing its staff, but this craftsman is not something that can be trained in a day. In addition to recruiting new apprentices, Wang Tao has asked his partners to find more craftsmen.

These things can't be done in a day, and Wang Tao also has time to accompany Zhu Youxiao to drink tea.

Zhu Youxiao had long heard that Wang Tao's Wanbao Pavilion was open today, although he was wearing civilian clothes early in the morning, and sneaked out of the palace with Wang Tiqian and two eunuchs, firstly, to congratulate Wang Tao on the opening of his shop, and on the other hand, he also wanted to come out to relax. Now his interest in carpenter work has gradually weakened, and it makes no sense for him to always build some tables, chairs and benches, but he is determined to benefit the people of the world, tables, chairs and benches or something, the style is too low.

Faced with his doubts, Wang Tao didn't know what to do for a while, after all, Zhu Youxiao's talent was all in carpenter's work, and there were not many things that carpenters could do, let alone benefit the country and the people. Of course, Wang Tao said those words to please Zhu Youxiao, not that those words were wrong, but for Zhu Youxiao, he didn't know much, except for carpenter work, he didn't master many other skills.

Of course, Wang Tao couldn't dampen his enthusiasm, so he pointed him to another way, shipbuilding!

The shipbuilding technology of the early Ming Dynasty can be said to be the first in the world, and the fleets of the Three Treasure Eunuchs to the Western Ocean were all European countries at that time, both in terms of scale and load. It's just that now with the advent of the Age of Discovery, the shipbuilding technology of various countries is developing rapidly, but the Ming Dynasty has regressed, for various reasons, not only failed to continue to develop, but burned the drawings of the treasure ships used by the Three Treasure Eunuchs in the West.

In the future, the Ming Dynasty will definitely go to the ocean, and it will not be able to study how to build a big ship at that time. Another very important reason is that if the ocean trade is very developed now, Wang Tao feels sorry for himself, and the profits are also very huge.

"Master Wang, I also thought about building a big ship, but all the drawings of the year were burned, and I had more than enough heart but not enough strength." Zhu Youxiao heard Wang Tao suggest that he make a boat, and said with some embarrassment.

"The drawings were burned?" Wang Tao didn't know about this matter, after all, he was just an otaku in his previous life, and he was not a history lover, and he was not even a fan, so he naturally didn't know this kind of details.

"Don't you think it's more challenging? The craftsmen and masters who built the earliest treasure ships did not have drawings, and if they could build them, of course the emperor could also build them. Since there are no drawings, Wang Tao can only be agitated.

It is not difficult for Wang Tao to come to this thing, although the drawings are gone, but the descendants of those masters who built ships back then cannot say that they have not learned a little skill, after all, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty are passed down from generation to generation, and it is impossible to keep a little technology, and it is not too difficult for the ancient emperor to do something, let alone just shipbuilding.

"What Master Wang said makes sense, since the craftsmen of the year can make it, there is no reason why I can't make it." Zhu Youxiao is still a young man in his twenties after all, and he has been wanting to make a big invention these days, Wang Tao's inferior radicalization method has also played a role.

"Then I wish the emperor success in shipbuilding!" No matter what the result is, at this time, Wang Tao can only send blessings to Zhu Youxiao.