Fang Wei smiled and said, "Second brother, you are still the most cunning. Fang Qiong smiled: "It's just average, if Xiao Yu hadn't come up with so many novelties, I wouldn't have been able to come up with a good idea." Fang Xiaoyu said with a smile: "Okay, let's not give the two grandfathers a glass window first, let's give the palace an first." Seeing everyone's excitement, Fang Xiaoyu secretly laughed, is it necessary to be so excited? Without the advanced float glass manufacturing method, the glass plates manufactured now are still very rough, not only with different thicknesses but also unable to be manufactured in large pieces, so it is really interesting that such small lattice windows actually make them treasures.

Fang Rui looked at the few people who were laughing, and said to Fang Xiaoyu who was snickering on the side: "Xiaoyu, you and I have a while, I want to talk to you alone." The patriarch spoke, and everyone consciously retreated. Fang Rui asked Fang Xiaoyu to sit down, handed him a cup of tea and said, "Xiaoyu, I thought you would be a talent in the future. But I never expected that you would be able to show your talents so quickly and make the Fang family's situation better and better. ”

Fang Xiaoyu was a little puzzled: "Grandpa, I just made some gadgets, how can it have anything to do with the situation of the Fang family." Fang Rui said thoughtfully: "Xiao Yu, you should know that our Fang family is different from the other three major families, we only started from your grandfather's generation, the foundation is weak, and the development of the other three major families for hundreds of years cannot be compared. Outside, we are one of the four great families of the empire, in fact, we can only develop into a pawn of the royal family that wants to contain the other two families, and it is also the kind of chess piece that can be discarded at any time, I think you already know this. ”

After listening to the words of the eldest grandfather, Fang Xiaoyu nodded and said nothing. Fang Rui took a sip of tea and moistened his throat and said: "The situation has always been like this before, although we have tried a lot of ways but it has not achieved much success, but since you have grown up, the situation has begun to change. Do you remember the time when your eldest brother Dingguo was deceived? ”

For his first attempt, Fang Xiaoyu naturally remembers it vividly: "I remember, someone deceived the eldest brother with a fake cloth that time. Fang Rui nodded: "Yes, that time was actually the Cheng family's temptation of us, the other two families also knew about the Cheng family's conspiracy in advance, but no one said it, but I didn't expect it to be dissolved by you, and it also made our family's cloth village in the capital from competing with several other cloth villages to becoming a dominant family, this is all your credit." ”

Fang Rui glanced at Fang Xiaoyu meaningfully and said, "After you took over Lanting Villa from Dingguo, Marshal Xia came to the door, because he admired your unique training method very much, so he came to the door to take you under his command." Then you improved the rifle and pistol, and made Lan Fang Candy and Thyme Wine, these two products have made the Fang family earn millions of dollars in just a few months, and also made Marshal Xia Jun pay more attention to you. And these are not the main things, the most important thing is that you have begun to transform the Fang family. ”

Fang Rui's words made Fang Xiaoyu a little cloudy, and he was puzzled: "I'm just running a mountain villa, what does it have to do with the transformation of the family?" Fang Rui explained: "Our family started with business, business is the fastest money-making business, and it is also the easiest business to be stuck by the government, as long as the royal family wants to, as long as an order can make us doom." We have always wanted to change the direction of this, but there are Cheng families in agriculture and Xia families in handicrafts, and we have very little room for development. In terms of fertile land, most of the fertile land is in the hands of the Cheng family, and in terms of handicrafts, we are not only too small in scale, but also do not have the secret methods accumulated by the Xia family for hundreds of years. But you are different, you began to develop the workshop, began to develop the cultivation, although the scale is still very small, but I know the subtleties, I believe that if time passes, you will definitely surpass all the families and become the giant of the Lanfang Empire and even the entire Eastern Continent. That's why I'm expanding the villa for you, and I've given you enough craftsmen to make you self-reliant. Fang Xiaoyu nodded, he finally understood the reason why the eldest grandfather easily agreed to him last time.

Fang Rui continued: "Marshal Xia came yesterday, on the surface he came to show off your close relationship with his granddaughter, but in fact, there is a deeper meaning inside. Fang Xiaoyu was a little surprised: "A deeper meaning? Fang Rui's eyes lit up and said, "Yes, a deeper meaning, the Xia family wants to fully form an alliance with us." Yesterday Marshal Xia talked to me about his desire to cooperate with us in the manufacture of glass, and he hoped that you would authorize them to make glass, have their workshop to make it, and they only need 30% of the profit. ”

Fang Xiaoyu was a little puzzled: "Authorize them?" Isn't that to apply for a patent, once you apply for a patent, others can apply for authorization from us? Once we reject the application more than five times, the government has the right to force the application. Fang Xiaoyu is very aware of the details of the patent law, and he doesn't want to publish the manufacturing method when the profit of glass is so high, which will make a lot less money, after all, this glass manufacturing method is not very difficult. Fang Rui said: "So Marshal Xia wants to help you apply for an implicit patent." ”

"What is an implicit patent?" Fang Xiaoyu had heard of this term for the first time. Fang Rui said: "Implicit patent is a form of patent that needs to be specially approved by various governments, which only registers the patent name and product characteristics, and does not indicate the production method. However, such a patent must be fully patentable, and a patent for an improvement in a particular area cannot be registered, and the term of such a patent is only twenty years, at which point the patent will be revoked. ”

Fang Xiaoyu said secretly, this kind of patent is really a cheat, on the surface it is very protective of his own interests, but in fact, once the manufacturing method is cracked, this implicit patent is no different from an ordinary patent, and the patent term has been reduced from fifty years to twenty years, in the long run, this is definitely not worth the loss. But fortunately, Fang Xiaoyu didn't expect these little things to get rich, and he had bigger plans for the future. Fang Xiaoyu nodded: "I agree to apply for a hidden patent and let the Xia family produce it." ”

"I know that agreeing to Marshal Xia's proposal will make you suffer a little." Fang Rui said with some embarrassment. Fang Xiaoyu smiled at his grandfather Fang Rui and said, "It's nothing, grandpa, your grandson still has a lot of good ideas, and he can't use them up." Handing over the glass manufacturing to the Xia family allows me to have more people to make other things by hand, so that the Fang family can make more money. ”

Hearing Fang Xiaoyu's words, Fang Rui showed a relieved look. This little grandson of the third child has grown up, and he will not only make money, but also sacrifice his own interests for the sake of the family, which is very valuable. Fang Rui nodded and said, "That's fine, your profit will not change." But we won't suffer, do you think grandpa agreed to Xia Jun so easily? ”

Fang Xiaoyu smiled: "No, grandpa, have you reaped other benefits?" Is this considered corruption? Fang Rui knocked Fang Xiaoyu's head and said, "You kid, is grandpa like that?" Grandpa is doing you a good thing. Fang Xiaoyu asked with some expectation, "What are the benefits?" ”

Fang Rui said with a little excitement: "With your development, I think in the future, our Fang family can rely on a huge business network, supported by handicraft industry and agriculture, and become one of the top families in the Eastern Continent, but we still lack one thing, do you know the way?" Fang Xiaoyu didn't want to blurt out: "It's military strength." "Fang Xiaoyu is still very familiar with Taizu's theory of power coming out of the barrel of a gun. Fang Rui nodded with satisfaction: "Yes, it turns out that you have already thought of it." ”

Fang Xiaoyu said embarrassedly: "I also thought of it temporarily, but it's not right, isn't our Fang family in charge of the regular army of the eight armies?" Fang Rui said: "Yes, we have eight regular armies in our hands, but we still can't compare with the other three major families." Let's not talk about the three soldiers and horses of the Beijing Praetorian Guard in the hands of the royal family, as well as 20,000 of the 40,000 horses of the city guard, as well as the five armies of the Beijing garrison camp outside the city, and the navy is also completely in the hands of the royal family. The Xia family has thirty-nine regular armies, although the Cheng family looks weak, only five regular armies, but they still control a large number of local civilian army, although these civilian armies and the regular army are incomparable, but the number is as high as hundreds of thousands after all, plus the Cheng family's power above the court, this is the reason why he dares to fight against the Xia family. What is even more terrifying is the power of two of the three major lords, which is decisive. The lord is no different from the emperor in his own territory, and with the two territories that he focuses on, their strength cannot be underestimated. And what our family lacks most is a lord. ”

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