Chapter 24 Bidding
The contract between Liu Zheng and the Zheng family was naturally signed in secret.
No matter what, when Liu Zheng started to invest in Wanhualou, he had already planned to focus on building cooperation with the Zheng family. First, because he had a much stronger impression of Zheng Yueru than the other three dude brothers, and second, the Zheng family had always had a good reputation and was also very strong.
After signing the contract, Liu Zheng immediately took his men to take over the iron smelting workshop that should have belonged to the county marquis's mansion.
Iron smelting and iron casting are actually the same thing in this era.
What surprised Liu Zheng was that Liangzhou had many mines, so the scale of the iron smelting workshop in Yinzhou was not small. The iron smelting workshop was not far from the city, with a mountain behind it and some land in front of it. There were many buildings in the whole workshop, including a workshop dedicated to iron smelting and nearly a hundred craftsmen.
Liu Zheng was immediately overjoyed.
The location of this ironworks was exactly what he was looking for. After all, as his control over Yinzhou grew stronger, he needed a secret manufacturing base of his own. This ironworks surrounded by mountains on three sides was exactly what he wanted!
A hundred skilled craftsmen are exactly what he needs!
"From today on, the Ironworks will be under the jurisdiction of the County Marquis' Mansion. You are all the craftsmen of the County Marquis' Mansion!"
Liu Zheng gathered a hundred people and gave them a speech.
"Sir, I know you, but..."
"Will the monthly salary be less?"
"We all have families to support!"
The group of people were a little unhappy. Ever since the Zheng family took over the ironworks, the monthly salary they gave them was very attractive.
Liu Zheng laughed: "Don't worry, the monthly salary will only be more, not less! The Zheng family will give you 50 coins a month, and I will give each of you one or two taels of silver!"
Everyone was immediately delighted, as this two taels of silver was really a lot of money.
"but……"
Liu Zheng's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he looked around: "From now on, you are all from my County Marquis' Mansion, and you should abide by the rules of my County Marquis' Mansion!"
"When the county government was first established, the confidentiality system was very strict. Anyone who violated it would be guilty of treason!"
The hundred craftsmen were instantly shocked and swore an oath to agree on the spot.
"Who's the boss here?"
Liu Zheng threatened for a while and then asked.
A bearded man ran out and said, "Mr. Liu, I am Lu Dachui. I am grateful to Miss Zheng for not looking down on me and temporarily managing this ironworks!"
Lu Dachui?
When Liu Zheng heard this, he wanted to laugh. The names of his subordinates were all similar, Wei Tiezhu, Lu Dachui.
Just right!
"Okay, from today on, your monthly salary will be increased to five taels, and you will continue to be in charge of the ironworks!"
Lu Dachui's eyes showed joy and he quickly agreed.
Liu Zheng saw that Lu Dachui did have some prestige among the group, so he nodded and called him to the rest room next to the ironworks. Then he took out some drawings he had drawn, handed them to Lu Dachui and asked, "How is it? Can these things be made?"
Lu Dachui was confused: "Sir, what is this?"
Liu Zheng explained, but Lu Dachui still didn't understand. Liu Zheng was also very patient. After all, these people had not received modern education, so he could only try to teach them in easy-to-understand theories.
"My Lord, do you mean to make the armor separately and then connect them together?"
It took a full half hour for Lu Dachui, who was sweating profusely, to understand what Liu Zheng meant.
“That’s right!”
Liu Zheng laughed and wiped his sweat: "Can we forge fine iron?"
Lu Dachui smiled naively and said, "We Yinzhou craftsmen are all masters of iron forging!"
"This is enough!"
Liu Zheng was a little surprised. He didn't expect that fine iron had already existed in this era. Although it was not as tough as steel, it could barely be used to make plate armor.
"Here is one thousand taels. You are responsible for purchasing iron ore and forging this plate armor!"
"From now on, this place will be renamed Shen Gong Workshop!"
Lu Dachui's eyes widened, and he was deeply moved by Liu Zheng's trust. He knelt down and said, "Lu Dachui will go through fire and water for you, even if it means death..."
"It's true that I'm willing to go through fire and water, but I'll just let it go even if I die."
Liu Zheng quickly helped him up and laughed, "You have an old mother at home, a wife and children at home, don't give your life to others easily, understand?"
Lu Dachui nodded with red eyes.
In fact, Liu Zheng's words also contained some threats, but Lu Dachui did not take it seriously. These days, it was not uncommon to take parents, wives and children as hostages, not to mention that they were already accustomed to taking one thousand taels of silver.
"Okay, make it as soon as possible. Remember, this kind of thing must not be revealed to outsiders!"
"Yes, sir!"
After explaining this, Liu Zheng finally breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the county mansion in a good mood.
time flies.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Early in the morning, the entrance to the county mansion was bustling with activity. The first to arrive was Chen Kui from the Chen family. Just as Liu Zheng had guessed, this guy had behaved respectfully at first but arrogantly at last three days ago, but today he showed up in a big way, with a four-horse carriage and five hundred elite soldiers following behind. The streets were in chaos because of the clanging of the four-horse carriage.
Five hundred elite soldiers attack the county magistrate's mansion!
This was also very arrogant. Chen Kui then swaggered down with a proud smile on his face: "Sir, am I late?"
As he said this, he walked into the county mansion surrounded by several big men.
Liu Dahao was angry, but he dared not say anything. He could only smile and said, "Mr. Chen is the first one. Please take a seat."
"Sure, sure!"
After Chen Kui, it was the Wang family again. The head of the Wang family was Wang Zengming, and their force was no less powerful than that of the Chen family. Then came Cao Zhen from the Cao family. For a while, the entire county mansion seemed to be surrounded by the private soldiers of these prominent families.
Finally, Zheng Yueru from the Zheng family arrived late.
All four companies were present.
Chen Kui couldn't help it, and he clasped his fists and laughed, "Sir, your government notified us to discuss the sale of Zuiyinzhou. Are you serious about this?"
Others also looked at him with burning eyes.
Zuiyinzhou has become increasingly famous these days and is now very popular.
Everyone knows that controlling the sales rights of Zuiyinzhou will bring huge benefits.
"Exactly!"
Liu Dahao followed Liu Zheng's instructions and nodded with a smile.
Several people were delighted at the same time.
"But, Lord County Marquis, to which company should the sales rights of Zuiyinzhou be given? My Wang family's business cavalry is all over the country!"
Wang Zengming spoke first.
Chen Kui snorted coldly: "Why, my Chen family's caravan is no longer viable?"
Cao Zhen laughed loudly: "Everyone, my Cao family has a dock in Jianye, and we have water trade!"
There was a lot of noise here, and several companies were talking about their own advantages.
“Ahem…”
Liu Dahao coughed dryly a few times, and the scene finally quieted down. However, everyone snorted coldly, sat back down, and stared at Liu Dahao with threatening eyes, as if they were looking at an enemy.
Liu Dahao said with a smile: "Everyone, listen to me first."
"The sales rights of Zuiyinzhou will be divided among four companies..."
"no!"
"Absolutely not!"
"My Lord, this is really not a decent thing to do!"
The four families shouted at the same time.
Liu Dahao had a headache and continued, "Please listen to me first. What I mean is that this is definitely not possible. Then, you can only choose one of the four!"
"It's really hard for me to do this."
"How about this..."
Liu Dahao smiled and said, "Today, we will submit a secret letter and ask the four parties to quote their prices. Write down the price you would pay to enter Zuiyinzhou from the county magistrate's mansion. The highest bidder will win. How do you think?"
The four people were stunned at the same time.
Is there such a way to play?
Zheng Yueru's eyes lit up when she heard this. This must be another idea of Liu Zheng.
That's right.
This is the modern bidding model, a simple model that has never happened in ancient times. Therefore, these people fell into deep thought. Before coming here, they thought of many ways to deal with this county, but at this time, none of them worked.
"This is the fairest way, right ?"
Liu Dahao said with a smile : "No matter who gets the sales rights in the end, it all depends on their own ability."
That's true.
If you win, it means you are very courageous.
If you lose, it means you are not strong enough. If you want to cause trouble in this county mansion, you have to be reasonable, right? What's more, Liu Zheng's method is simply vicious!
Under such a fair method, if you lose and still make trouble, what will the winner think? What will other families think?
You have private soldiers, don’t they?
"Amazing……"
Zheng Yueru smiled bitterly and shook her head, once again refreshing her understanding of Liu Zheng.
"good!"
"That's it!"
"This is the fairest way!"
Several lords of prominent families nodded one after another, then glared at their competitors. Liu Zheng's clever move firmly controlled the psychology of these people and directly transferred their hatred for the County Marquis' Mansion to other families.
Liu Dahao couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
When did my son become so insightful?
Immediately, four secret letters were sent out. In order to be fair, the four people were led into the study by the maids of the mansion, wrote down their own prices on the secret letters, and then sealed the letters and walked out.
Because the four prominent families already hated each other and were wary of each other at this time, there was naturally no possibility of them communicating with each other.
Soon, four secret letters were placed on the desk of County Marquis Liu Dahao.
Liu Dahao laughed: "Everyone, the secret letter was decided by the four of you, so you must admit your victory or defeat!"
The four of them clasped their fists in response at the same time.
"Zheng family, ten taels of silver!"
This is the purchase price per catty. Ten taels of silver per catty of wine is considered a sky-high price.
But Chen Kui smiled coldly and didn't care.
Sure enough, the next secret letter was from the Chen family.
"Chen family, twelve taels!"
Liu Dahao also took a deep breath.
This is even higher than the purchase price paid to Fengminglou!
"Wang family, thirteen taels!"
"What?"
Chen Kui's face immediately changed, and he glared at Wang Zengming: "Mr. Wang is so generous!"
Wang Zengming laughed proudly: "Zuiyinzhou, this is a real fine wine, what is this little silver? In Beijing, the seller will sell it for at least twenty taels!"
This is the last one.
Liu Dahao opened it, and several people held their breath at the same time.
"Cao family..."
"Fifteen taels of silver!"
The whole place suddenly fell silent.
