Starting the next day, Zhu Daolin threw all the affairs at hand to Lu Jianmin, pulled Chu Mei, and went to the garment processing factory in the southern suburbs together, and finally saw the completed customized military uniforms in the beautiful and spacious exhibition hall of the manufacturer, both in texture and workmanship, which made Zhu Daolin impeccable.

The two directors and deputy managers of the manufacturer and the three designers all came out to meet the big customers that they had never had.

Zhu Daolin was forced by Chu Mei to try on a black military uniform, and everyone on the side was full of praise when they saw it, and Chu Mei, who was smiling, pulled Zhu Daolin to the big mirror for him to admire: "The effect is great to wear, a typical clothes rack, you can be a model." ”

"To be a model, you need to be at least 1.85 meters tall, and I'm only 1.82 meters tall."

Zhu Daolin's mouth was modest, but he was very satisfied with the image in the mirror, if he didn't have the long hair tied behind his back, and then put on the German hat and collar badge epaulettes, he felt that he could be confused.

Zhu Daolin took off his military uniform, thanked several factory leaders, politely declined the factory's banquet, and drove with Chu Mei to accompany the factory's female vice president and financial chief to the bank to settle the balance.

Unfortunately, Zhu Daolin will not be able to bring back 210,000 sets of navy uniforms in the near future.

Calculating the time, the officers and men of the two detachments should have been redressed before the end of the year, but how to persuade his naval officers and men to cut off the long hair that was in the way, Zhu Daolin still has no clue, and perhaps the Spanish and European mercenary instructors need to set an example first.

As for the army's military uniforms, Zhu Daolin plans to directly use the nearly 100,000 sets of 85-style military uniforms that he has in stock and buy back at low prices, and wait for the textile mill, which has expanded fivefold in two years, to produce all kinds of cotton cloth in large quantities before changing his clothes, and at most to buy tens of thousands of sturdy and cheap full sets of camouflage as training uniforms.

The navy also needs to wear training uniforms to train for tasks in peacetime, and only after landing on the shore will it wear a human dog to show off, otherwise no amount of good military uniforms will be enough to wear out and tear on the ship.

######

In the fifth year of Chongzhen, August 19. Early morning.

Hundreds of two-wheeled wagons from the Ziyangguan Carriage Company drove into the shooting range in front of the Shangyuan Naval Division Dock Battery, and hundreds of dock workers carried bags of heavy rice onto the wagon.

At half past seven o'clock in the morning, the Jinchuan Gate had just opened, and more than 100 carriages loaded with high-quality rice drove into the dim city gate like a long dragon. The snow-white high-quality rice was sprinkled all over the ground, and thousands of onlookers suddenly exclaimed in surprise, and the handlebar sitting in front of them continued to hurry.

A few brave traders and coolies quickly ran over, grabbed the indica rice scattered all over the ground, held it in their hands and took a closer look, and immediately exclaimed: "Oh my God! Tribute rice, Zhancheng tribute rice! ”

The people were in a panic and gathered around to grab the rice on the road, blocking the road in a blink of an eye. The handlebar in the back was so anxious that he shouted loudly:

"Get out of the way, get out of the way! If you want to eat Zhancheng tribute rice, immediately go to the rice shops of the Yan family, the Chen family, the Zhang family, and the Li family to line up! ”

"Xiao Zhu Daochang said, the Mid-Autumn Festival is not in time to say hello to the old folks, this batch of rice will be sold cheaply, only 1 tael of 8 yuan silver per stone, and 100,000 stones will arrive in a few days...... Hey, hey! Don't squeeze it! Get out of the way, my uncle, don't miss the hour! ”

There was a "boom" and cheers, and the traders and coolies who were supposed to leave the city turned around and ran home one by one. One of the hawkers shouted as he ran:

"Xiao Zhu Daochang's Zhancheng tribute rice has entered the city, and 1 tael and 8 yuan and one stone are open for sale! Xiao Zhu Daochang's Zhancheng Gongmi has entered the city......"

High above the city gate. Zhao Zhilong, the uncle of Xincheng, and several subordinates quietly looked down on the city, and saw the skinny hawker shouting and running, his voice was louder than many people, and the group of hawkers who ran with him also shouted, and couldn't help laughing.

"Thief bird, where did Xiao Lu find this living treasure?" Zhao Zhilong asked happily.

Lu Baihu on the side humbly arched his hand: "That person is a lowly neighbor. Since he was a child, he didn't have a father and mother, he grew up eating hundreds of family meals, and he could eat more than a six-foot man with a mouth, and he didn't go to the lowly family to eat in the past two years, and his nickname was 'Crow'. ”

The crowd burst into laughter. Zhao Zhilong laughed so much that his whole body was shaking with fat, and he almost couldn't straighten his waist.

######

The news that 100,000 stone Zhancheng tribute rice had arrived in Jinling and that a large amount of rice had been sold openly spread throughout the city.

The Yan family, the Chen, Li, Zhang, and other large and small grain merchants in the city distributed 21 grain stores and rice shops, at the same time, opened the gates, put up signs to sell rice at a price of 1 tael and 8 yuan per stone of rice, and the purchase limit was canceled, and the residents of the city bought at will.

The heads of the major families in Jiangnan and the vassal grain merchants who received the news were very puzzled, and they sent people to various rice shops to verify whether it was a rumor.

The people who inquired about the news rushed to the shops of the Yan family and other four large and small grain merchants, and saw a long queue in front of each rice shop, and the officers and soldiers of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division stood aside to maintain order.

The people who lined up to buy grain actively cooperated, and quietly told the officers and men who were not from our area, who were the family members of an unscrupulous grain merchant or who had been hired to buy low-priced rice, and the officers and men immediately went up to pull them out and ask them sternly, and quickly scared away those who tried to fish in troubled waters and profit from it.

While the rice shop was open for sale, from time to time a large carriage full of grain drove into the courtyard of the rice shop.

The shopkeeper and the man repeatedly reported that there was no need to worry about the abundant grain, and the people who bought the grain were very sure in their hearts, and the people who bought low-priced grain in the front were full of smiles, and the people in the back were hotly discussed, praising the Yan family and other four grain merchants for their conscience and benevolence, and many citizens loudly announced that they would only buy grain in these four rice shops in the future.

At noon, a procession of horse-drawn carts loaded with grain entered the city from the Jinchuan Gate and delivered the grain to the 21 shops that sold it in various places.

At this point, the principals of the Jiangnan family and the large and small grain profiteers finally panicked, and ran to the West Garden in the backyard of Kuixing Tower, asking Wang Chongnian, the head of the Taicang Wang family, who was highly respected, for advice.

Wang Chongnian, who had a dry mouth, repeatedly told everyone not to panic, claiming that this was a desperate move by his opponent to jump over the wall.

But it didn't take long for desperate news to come one after another:

Half an hour ago, all the grain ships of more than a dozen large and small grain merchants in Huguang left Xinhekou and sent a full load of 220,000 stone rice to Shangyuan Wharf; Nearly 100 large and small cargo ships came from Chizhou upstream, most of which were covered with tarpaulins, but it can be clearly seen that all the grain transported on them is roughly estimated, and it is estimated that there are at least 200,000 stones!

When the news broke, the house was full of horror.

More than a dozen small and medium-sized grain merchants could no longer care about the family gates, so they all slipped out of the West Garden and returned to their respective grain hoarding places and grain stores and rice shops, seizing the time to sell grain to reduce losses.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the 21 grain shops of the four local grain merchants headed by the Yan family lowered the price of grain again, and the price of rice on the sign outside the door changed from 1 tael and 8 yuan per stone to 1 tael and 6 yuan, which once again triggered bursts of cheers.

The wharf of Shangyuan Port is busy.

More than 1,000 dock workers unloaded a boatload of rice, which was soon transported away by the waiting wagon, and more than 30 Huguang grain merchants gathered on the second floor of the commercial bank to divide 400 tons of snow-white sugar that was half sold and half sent, and reached a long-term agreement on the purchase and sale of grain with the "Tiangong Trading Co., Ltd." company under the management of Feng Shengtai.

Nine grain merchants led by the Huang family in Wuchang and the Peng family in Yueyang made it clear that 300,000 stone of grain would be transported again within a month.

Feng Shengtai also offered a very generous purchase price: 1 tael of silver per stone for summer grain, 2 taels of silver per stone for autumn grain, 2 taels of silver per stone for soybeans, and 1 tael of silver per stone for black beans!

Zhao Xunting, the general manager, then issued a long-term purchase list including pig iron, lead ingots, miscellaneous copper, cinnabar, mercury, coal and 12 kinds of timber, and the purchase price was increased by 10% to 15% on the current price!

Huguang businessmen were overjoyed and expressed their desire to sign long-term contracts.

Zhao Xunting and Feng Shengtai discussed slightly, agreed on the spot, and warmly invited all Huguang friends present to have a dinner and toast freely. (To be continued......)