Chapter 20 Cooperation

"Twenty gold for a mirror?!"

Liu Cun looked at Lu Ping, who was smiling, and was extremely shocked in his heart, he never expected Mi Zhu's price to be so high.

Lu Ping smiled: "This is the price that Mr. Zizhong himself set yesterday afternoon, and the small one was also startled, hehe!" ”

Liu Cun slowly exhaled a rough breath, took a few steps and slowly turned back: "It's too expensive!" No, you go in person, invite Mi Zizhong and that Liu Ziyang to the Guantao Pavilion outside the east gate, and then send someone to inform you Yizi, and tell the chefs to come up with the best craftsmanship, and I will teach them a few dishes of seafood, and then I will go to wait for the guests by myself...... Also, bring five bottles of Langya jade liquid from the white painted pottery vase that Zhushan just sent, and let Mi Zizhong taste it. ”

"Understood!" Lu Ping hurried away.

An hour later, the laughter was loud in the private room on the top floor of the Guantao Pavilion Restaurant, Mi Zhu and Liu Ye quickly adapted to Liu Cun's bold personality, and they had completely relaxed, listening to Liu Cun talk about many interesting things that happened in the workshop under his command, and they felt deeply interesting and laughed non-stop.

When the wine was half-drunk, Mi Zhu, whose face was flushed, pinched the exquisite white porcelain wine glass in his hand, pointed to the clear and mellow wine in the glass and sighed:

"Zijian, whether it is this table of delicacies, or the crystal clear tableware and wine utensils, as well as the clear and mellow Langya wine brewed with secret recipes, everything has brought a huge shock to Brother Yu! I really don't know how many stunts you still haven't performed, and if you don't tell the foolish brother one by one, the foolish brother may not be able to sleep at night. ”

Liu Cun laughed: "Brother Zizhong praised it falsely, let's talk about other matters later, let's talk about the price of the mirror first, the younger brother has different ideas about the price offered by the elder brother." ”

"Oh? If Zijian thinks it's not enough, add another fifty percent! Mi Zhu generously gave in.

Liu Cun waved his hand: "No, no!" The elder brother will be mistaken, the younger brother means that the mirror is not worth twenty gold, only eight thousand dollars each, and the little brother will be embarrassed! ”

"What? What did you say? Mi Zhu looked at Liu Cun in disbelief.

Liu Cun explained: "Yesterday, the younger brother returned to Zhushan, and was pleasantly surprised to find that my two apprentices who were not successful were lucky to find the right formula, and finally the genuine product rose from less than half of the previous to about seventy, so that the manufacturing cost dropped sharply, and after the younger brother calculated again, he found that he sold it for eight thousand dollars per piece, and there was a net profit of forty percent, so no matter how novel this thing is, it is not worth twenty gold, and the younger brother can not earn ill-gotten wealth with a clear conscience, and he is based on honesty for the disciples under his command. The younger brother repeatedly emphasized the principle of small profits but quick turnover, and promised to the two apprentices who specialized in the production of mirrors: if within five years, we can double the output, reduce the cost, and make the world affordable to buy mirrors, I Liu Cun will not only reward them with two houses covering an area of five acres, but also set up a monument for the two of them in the middle of the harbor on the coast of the sea in Zhushan Township. ”

Mi Zhu was shocked, and Liu Ye was even more shocked in his heart, both of them stood up solemnly and saluted Liu Cun deeply.

Liu Cun hurriedly went up to hold the hands of the two, and it took a lot of effort to get the two to sit down again.

Liu Cun continued: "Brother Zizhong and Ziyang, if you have time to be interested, after drinking, I will invite you to Zhuangzi in the north of the city to have a look, the carriage workshop of the Zhushan Chamber of Commerce, the ten pottery kilns built using the latest technology and materials, the iron workshop that produces new iron plows and knives, the workshop that burns cement ash, etc., are all under the Huangdao Mountain in and outside the village in the north of the city. ”

Mi Zhu was so happy that he clapped his hands again and again, which was one of the most important purposes of his trip, he thought that Liu Cun was as precious as all the merchants and craftsmen, but he didn't expect Liu Cun to be so generous and enthusiastic, which made him happy and secretly self-conscious.

Liu Ye is even more excited, since entering Xiahe City, he has been shocked too much, and now he is not only full of exploration of the amazing effect of powdered cement and water and sandstone, but also has a strong desire for knowledge about the design and rapid manufacture of four-wheeled carriages, sea ships, and high-rise buildings invented by Liu Cun.

Just yesterday night, Liu Ye solemnly asked Mi Zhu to help him ask Liu Cun to allow him to stay and follow Liu Cun to learn shipbuilding and high-rise and bridge design.

Liu Cun didn't know where Liu Ye, who was one year younger than him, was sacred, and he didn't know Liu Ye's royal bloodline, thinking that Liu Ye was a noble son who followed Mi Zhu to Xiahe to relax, but Liu Cun had a good impression of Liu Ye, who was polite and easy-going.

At this moment, seeing Liu Ye's excited and solemn request for apprenticeship, Liu Cun was taken aback, and hurriedly stepped forward to hold Liu Ye's hand, refusing to agree.

Seeing that Liu Ye was so anxious that tears came out, Mi Zhu interceded on the side again, Liu Cun thought about it for a long time, so he had to take a step back: "Ziyang, listen to me, it's not that I don't want you to stay, but I don't dare to be your teacher, if you are willing to stay as a friend to learn together, I Liu Cun can't ask for it, but if you want to apprentice, please forgive me for not daring to be it, let alone keeping you." ”

Mi Zhu breathed a sigh of relief, and Lehaha turned to Liu Ye: "Zijian Gaoyi!" Brother Ziyang, you don't need to be obsessed with what to apprentice, I will wait at first sight, treat each other sincerely as friends, let go of the red etiquette, and study together with Zijian, wouldn't it be better? ”

"Yes, yes! That's right, that's exactly what the little brother meant. Liu Cun said with a smile.

Liu Ye was grateful: "In this case, please ask my brother to accept Liu Ye's gift!" ”

Liu Cun was no longer polite, laughed back, Mi Zhu simply stopped drinking when he saw this, and asked to go to Zhuangzi in the north of the city immediately.

Liu Ye immediately agreed, Liu Cun had no opinion, and the three of them laughed and turned downstairs.

Mi Zhu and Liu Ye rode in the same car, Liu Cun, who likes to ride horses, accompanied by horses, and the guards on both sides either rode or rode horses, following closely behind.

In the evening, Mi Zhu and Liu Ye visited for an afternoon under the guidance of Liu Cun, and returned to rest under the big trees at the gate of the manor, which covers an area of more than 200 acres surrounded by high walls, and looked around at the well-organized manor scenery with the shade of giant trees.

Liu Cun had expected this reaction from the two, lifted the teapot on the stone table and poured tea for the two, pointed to the independent courtyard on the east side of the gate and introduced:

"There is the little brother is about to open the school, all the craftsmen and farmers in the Zhuangzi, as long as they want to enter the school for free to study, the pen and ink inkstone is supplied by the Zhuangzi, from the homeless people invited out of the twenty teaching gentlemen have been stationed, the other half of the Mr. by the Chamber of Commerce of the department of the shopkeeper and the bookkeeper, the major workshops of the craftsman, to teach students the four books and five classics at the same time, according to the interests and requirements of the students, to teach business skills, I myself temporarily acting as the head of the school, I have time to come and see, I hope five years later, Cultivate a group of talents who can write and count with their own expertise, only in this way can the skills of craftsmen be inherited and improved step by step. ”

Mi Zhu immediately realized the benefits: "Zijian, how about Brother Fool send a group of children to come to school?" ”

"As long as my brother wants to, why not?" Liu Cun said with a smile.

Mi Zhu arched his hand and thanked him repeatedly.

Liu Cun waved his hand to remove the tea set, signaled Liu Zhen, who was standing on the side, to bring things up, and picked up one of them to show Mi Zhu and Liu Ye:

This thing is called a bearing, in order to make full use of water power, improve the efficiency of the waterwheel, the younger brother spent five months, has tried to use wood, ceramics, copper, bronze and other materials to manufacture, experienced more than 120 failures, and finally in the fifteen craftsmen with the joint participation, with gypsum, clay and beeswax and so on to make a variety of molds casting, and then through the heat expansion method of oil immersion suit, after a number of strict quenching and annealing processes, finally made this stainless steel bearing, although it is still very rough, can not be manufactured more accurately, but used in the carriage, windmills, sea ship steering wheels and other objects, it is basically enough. ”

Liu Ye grabbed another bearing on the stone table and looked at it carefully, and after gently turning it, he felt that it was very labor-saving, and then fiddled with it twice and pondered it carefully, and immediately found that it was of great value and superb skills, and he was so excited that he turned repeatedly and was unwilling to put it down.

Mi Zhu looked at the bearings handed over by Liu Cun, and after careful investigation, he finally understood that if there were no bearings provided by Liu Cun, no matter how many craftsmen and skills he had, he would not be able to imitate a four-wheeled carriage with excellent performance, and even if it was made, it would not be as sturdy, fast and efficient as the carriage made by Liu Cun, so Mi Zhu asked very smartly: "Can Zijian provide bearings to Brother Yu's family business for a long time?" ”

Liu Cun nodded: "No problem, but the younger brother also needs his brother's help." ”

"Zijian, please say, there is no need to be polite between you and me." Mi Zhu is very refreshing.

Liu Cun unceremoniously made a request: "The younger brother needs the elder brother's firm to provide pig iron, copper ingots, tin ingots, lead ingots, mercury, tung oil, beeswax, mineral pigments and gums and other materials for many years, such as mirrors are made of mercury and other materials, through precise proportions to produce chemical reactions, attached to the transparent glass fired at high temperature and pressed by steel molds, and then through the process of temperature solidification, constant temperature maintenance, lacquer capping and drying, etc., in order to make a five-inch mirror, and then make wooden frames and copper frames, and fix the mirror inlay, Be a mirror that can be sold. ”

Without waiting for Mi Zhu, who was confused by many novel terms, to react, Liu Cun continued: "Also, the sawing machines that my brother saw in the ironwork workshop just now, not to mention how the sharp circular saw in the middle is made, not to mention the stainless steel horizontal axis and bearing that drives the circular saw, just the spiral adjustment rocker that the quilt Yang on the side called the magic axe, it consumes the huge efforts of the younger brother and hundreds of craftsmen, starting from the production of measuring tools that are accurate to the slightest, to drawing drawings, making wax molds, pouring molten steel, cold grinding, quenching and annealing, etc. to make a rocker. ”

"In addition to shipbuilding, in addition to the best wood, it also needs materials such as gum and fish gelatin, which are formulated as adhesives and leak fillers between the ship's plates, and specially processed silk and linen putty are used as fillers to seal and prevent leaks, and then brushed with waterproof tung oil and prepared various colors of paint. Therefore, if there is no various materials provided by the elder brother, it will not be possible to produce it on a large scale, which is why the younger brother hopes that the younger brother will master as many techniques as possible with us, because the bigger the elder brother's business, the greater the help to the younger brother, and the better the prospects for cooperation between the two sides. ”

Mi Zhu was completely dizzy, and even despaired of the imitation plan, but Liu Cun's last summary touched him greatly, and also pointed out the direction of cooperation between the two sides, so he immediately let go of the greed in his heart, no longer obsessed with the acquisition of technology, and decisively made an important decision on whether to cooperate with each other or not.

Liu Cun responded positively and made concessions in terms of the exclusive distribution rights and minimum quotas of many commodities, and the two sides immediately called their own managers to reach a written contract on in-depth cooperation.

In order to thank Liu Cun for his sincerity, Mi Zhu took the initiative to give Liu Cun 100,000 Hu rice grains for winemaking, and loaned Liu Cun a huge amount of 2,000 gold at one time for expanding production and worker training.

Liu Cun reciprocated the favor by giving back two hydraulic sawing machines, 20 four-wheeled carriages, 100 sets of three-inch bearings, and a pair of five-foot-high pine crane painted porcelain vases that had become out of print, and generously gave Mi Zhu back, which immediately made Mi Zhu ecstatic, and grabbed Liu Cun's hand tightly and shook it again and again, and did not let go for a long time.

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