Time flies, another month has passed. The cold wind in Aoshanwei in November, because it is close to the sea, the winter wind here is not only cold, but also with a thick damp, making the already cold temperature even more biting.

However, even if the weather is cold, the cement workshop outside the Acropolis is still in full swing, and the craftsmen are working overtime, constantly improving the cement production process, and adding more than 20 calcined blast furnaces on the other, so that the cement workshop has the ability to produce large-scale.

In mid-to-late November, the first batch of finished cement in the cement workshop was finally produced, and Han Feng excitedly rushed to Jimo Yingcheng to report the good news to Liu Yan.

Liu Yan is very happy, it seems that if everything goes well, at the end of this year and the beginning of next year, the cement workshop will be able to make a lot of money.

So Liu Yan ordered Miao Shao to bring a banner of soldiers from the guard battalion and set off with Han Feng to the cement workshop north of the Aoshan Acropolis.

"My lord, I just arrived in Jimo Camp City, so you can't let me rest for one night, let's rush over tomorrow, okay?"

Liu Yan looked at Han Feng, whose cheeks were flushed and a little tired, and said with a smile: "If you erect the cement industry one day earlier, you will be able to earn silver one day earlier, and you and the craftsmen in the workshop can also have a good year, aren't you in a hurry?" ”

When Han Feng heard that there was money to be made, he nodded with a smile and followed Liu Yan to the Acropolis of Aoshan.

Liu Yan and others rushed to the cement workshop north of the Acropolis of Aoshan, and at this time, in the warehouse of the cement workshop, the cement in cloth bags had been piled up.

At this time, Han Feng pointed to the piled up cement bags and introduced: "Lord Qiqi, this is the first batch of cement produced by the workshop, which has passed the inspection and fully meets the standard. ”

Liu Yan patted the cloth bag containing cement and asked, "How much cement is in this batch?" ”

"This batch of cement has about 120,000 catties, almost 4,000 bags."

Liu Yan calculated in his heart: 120,000 jin is converted, that is, about six tons, such an output is not large in later generations, at best, it is equivalent to the output of a small factory in a certain township, or even worse.

But now it is a troubled era at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the first batch of output of the cement workshop is so much, which can be regarded as great news.

Liu Yan said: "That's good! You remember, this cement must be preserved. Aoshan Acropolis is close to the sea, these cement must not be damp, let alone flooded, this warehouse must pay attention to waterproof and moisture-proof, it is best to spend some silver to get some quicklime, sprinkle some around the cement. ”

"Yes!"

"If the cement workshop is fully operational, how much cement can be produced in a month?"

Han Feng said: "My lord, this first batch of cement is produced on the basis of continuous improvement of the formula, and the quantity is not the whole output. Starting from next month, all the 28 calciners of the cement workshop will be in operation, each calciner can produce more than 24,000 catties of cement, and the cement workshop can produce about 67 or 80,000 catties of cement a month. ”

"In this way, it is more than 300,000 tons a month, which is not bad."

"As for the price of cement, do you have any specific opinions on the head of the cement workshop?"

Han Feng said: "My lord, my subordinates have already calculated with the account office of the workshop, counting the cost and labor, plus a certain profit, this kind of cement of thirty catties and a bag is tentatively set at two hundred and forty Wen. ”

"Two hundred and forty?"

Liu Yan asked suspiciously: "Can you make money at this price?" ”

The amount of cement in these 30 catties is not large, but the amount of cement used in this era should not be much, at least not like later generations, a building often needs dozens of tons, or even hundreds of thousands of tons of cement.

Therefore, the price of cement should be very high now, after all, the output cannot be compared with the industrialized cement of later generations, and the cost will be correspondingly higher.

Han Feng said: "Don't worry, counting labor, the cost of such a bag of thirty catties of cement is about eighty wen, set this price, and the remaining eighty wen is profitable." ”

Liu Yan shook his head and said, "In this way, the price of a bag of cement is set at four hundred yuan." ”

"Four hundred?"

Han Feng said worriedly: "My lord, my subordinates are worried that this price is too high. ”

Liu Yan said: "No problem, only by making cement profits higher can we attract those businessmen to enter the cement industry and increase the output of cement by blowout." ”

Of course, Liu Yan is not worried that cement will not be sold at this price, as long as the benefits and uses of cement are publicized, there will be no worries about sales, those gentry and businessmen have money, and a bag of cement for 400 yuan is not harmful to such a large family, and even some ordinary people with good families can buy some and use it.

Moreover, according to the current output and cost of the cement workshop, even if it is sold for 400 wen a bag, the net profit of the cement workshop is only 6 or 7,000 taels in a month, which is still a lot worse than the net profit of the rest of the workshops.

Han Feng saw that Liu Yan was so persistent, so he agreed.

Then Liu Yan and Han Feng came to the office of the workshop and said: "I am going to do one thing, I will invite the merchants and gentry around Lingshanwei, Aoshanwei, Jimo Yingcheng to come over, and sell cement to them. I'll let the commercial officer Song Qianhu take care of the matter of sending out invitations and publicity, but you also have a task. ”

"Please show me."

"The workshop will prepare some samples and send them to the cement house in the north of the Acropolis of Aoshan in ten days, I will be useful."

"Yes!"

A few days later, as Song Gongming sent a large number of people to distribute invitations in various places, the news that the guerrilla general Liu Yan was going to give a banquet to merchants and gentry from all over the country in the Acropolis of Aoshan also spread, and merchants and gentry from all over the country received invitations one after another.

Immediately afterwards, businessmen and gentry from all over the country sent people to the appointment, after all, there were soap, pot wine, sea salt, glass and other money-making goods in front, and everyone knew that Liu Yan would definitely have the opportunity to make money in his hands, so they happily went to the appointment.

Moreover, everyone who received the invitation has already decided that Liu Yan must have some new industry to make money, this is to pull everyone to invest and make money together, who doesn't want to go with such a good thing?

In the past few days, merchants and gentry from all over the country have been rushing to the Acropolis of Aoshan, and then they were received by the new army soldiers guarding the various city gates, and directly arranged to enter various inns in the city.

At this time, Liu Yan, Song Gongming, and Han Feng had already rushed to the Acropolis of Aoshan, and the three of them lived in the integrity mansion in the city.

And Han Feng was then sent by Liu Yan to the cement house in the north of the city to supervise the people in the cement workshop to prepare for the banquet.

Three days later, this day was the time set by Liu Yan to hold a banquet, and early in the morning, Liu Yan took Song Gongming and Han Feng to the outside of the cement house in the north of the city early.

At this time, the cement house was still covered by a circle of tall wooden planks, and a group of merchants and gentry who had arrived here early were discussing in groups, and from time to time someone pointed to the wooden plank in front of them and made a comparison, and everyone was guessing what was behind this circle of planks.

When everyone saw that Liu Yan had arrived, they all rushed over to salute, and Liu Yan smiled and greeted everyone with a smile.

Liu Yan also saw a thin man in the crowd, who just hugged his fist and saluted Liu Yan, and did not come over to pat himself like the others, but looked at the cement house and frowned and thought.

"Who's that man?"

Han Feng knew this person and said in a low voice: "My lord, this person's name is Gao Chengming, he is a famous businessman in Aoshanwei, and he is the most powerful businessman in Aoshanwei, and he has industries in Aoshanwei and the surrounding areas. ”

Liu Yan nodded, and asked again, "How is this person?" ”

Han Feng thought for a moment and said, "The subordinates don't have much contact with this person, and it's just hearsay. It is said that this Gao Chengming is bold and flexible, willing to do business with small and broad, dare to be the first, and is very famous in the Aoshanwei area. ”

"From this point of view, this Gao Chengming is also the number one person."

Immediately, Liu Yan remembered Gao Chengming, and then came back to greet a group of businessmen and gentry.

After a while, Liu Yan said to the soldiers of the new army around him: "Okay, remove the fence, I want to show you a good thing!" ”

Miao Shao immediately received the order, and stepped forward with dozens of soldiers of the personal guard battalion, and removed a circle of wooden planks after dividing five by two.

A strange gray-white house appeared in front of everyone's eyes, and everyone who was invited was stunned, what is this kind of house built with?

This is not a house made of wood at all, and this house is not made of stone, even if the material of the house is very similar to stone, but how can there be such smooth, regular, and uniform stones in the world? Impossible!

In the blink of an eye, dozens of family heads were buzzing and discussing, and Gao Chengming was discussing with several family heads next to him for a while, and then looked at Liu Yan. During this time, Gao Chengming heard that Liu Yan opened a workshop outside the city, which can be described as a large-scale construction, and even sent soldiers from the New Army to come over to guard, is it for this strange house?

Gao Chengming looked at Liu Yan with a puzzled expression, only to see Liu Yan smiling, explaining something to Song Gongming and Han Feng beside him, and the two immediately entered the courtyard where the strange house was located.

After a while, Liu Yan smiled and said, "Everyone, everyone! Listen to me! ”

Hundreds of merchants and gentry suddenly quieted down and looked at Liu Yan in unison.

I saw Liu Yan pointing to the house in front of him and said to everyone: "I invited you here today and held this banquet to promote a new industry to you: the cement industry!" ”

"Cement?"

"What is cement?"

"How can water and mud be put together!"

Gao Chengming was thoughtful, although he didn't understand what Liu Yan was going to do, but his intuition as a businessman told Gao Chengming that this so-called cement would be very profitable, otherwise Liu Yan, a dignified guerrilla general, would not have gone through such a lot of trouble!

Liu Yan pointed to the house and said: "And the house in front of you is built with cement, it only takes ten or twenty days, not only saves labor and time, but also is very strong, after completion, it is like being built with a rock, even if it is unfortunately fired, it can stand tall in the flames!" ”

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, there is such a magical thing in the world?

Gao Chengming was secretly happy in his heart, and hurriedly asked loudly: "Dare to ask my lord, what is this so-called cement?" How much is it worth? How to use it? ”

A series of several questions, which suddenly attracted the surrounding businessmen to ask questions, but Liu Yan said with a smile: "I know that you have many questions in your minds, please come in with me, let's watch and chat, how about it?" ”

Everyone agreed loudly, and followed Liu Yan into the cement house.

Some people died, but not completely......