The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 143 Father, You Got It Upside Down
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I wonder if besides dyeing cloth, we can also start some weaving and spinning workshops?"

After everyone discussed for a while, a honorable man boldly stood up and asked.

This question obviously touched everyone's heart, almost all looked towards the high platform and pricked up their ears.

How much money can light-dyed cloth make?Moreover, the required cloth is still in the hands of the emperor, so the emperor has the final say on how much to sell and how much to charge?
At that time, those eunuchs will play tricks, and they may lose money in the end, so almost everyone wants to do it alone, spinning, weaving and dyeing together, and spend some money to buy a new spinning machine with His Majesty.

They have also heard that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River run workshops, spin yarn and weave cloth, and earn no less than those who farm the land every year.

"No, I won't sell the new type of spinning machine, so as not to be imitated by the cotton merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. I advise you not to think about weaving for the time being, and honestly opening a dyeing workshop is the right way.

Of course, I will never force this matter, it is completely voluntary, if you don't want to, you can leave now, go back and continue to sit and eat. "

Zhu Cihong resolutely refused, and sneered in his heart.

These guys are not stupid, and they have good calculations, but at least he will not open up weaving and spinning for a few years. Firstly, it is really for the sake of keeping secrets, and secondly, he is afraid that they will oppress those military households.

When everyone heard this, they all looked disappointed, but no one wanted to get up and leave.

Zhu Cihong didn't talk to them any more, no matter how extravagant the talk is now, they must have scruples in their hearts, they don't believe in the royal family, and when they taste the sweetness in the future, they will naturally follow them wholeheartedly.

So I directly told them the wholesale price and recycling price of the original cloth.

Cotton cloth is divided into two types, one kind of coarse cotton cloth is thicker and rougher, and the other kind of fine cotton cloth is thinner. The fine cotton cloth cannot be produced for the time being. cotton thread.

Two kinds of cotton cloth, one piece is about four feet long and four feet wide, that is, more than 13 meters long and about 1.2 meters wide, which is similar to a piece of cloth in this era.

A piece of coarse cloth weighs about five catties, and requires five catties of pure cotton. Fine cloth weighs about three catties, and requires more than three catties of cotton.

But now the cotton on the market is almost five taels of silver for one stone, which is more expensive than a stone of grain.

However, this is the market price. The price purchased uniformly from Shandong is three taels and one stone, and the shipping cost is only three taels and five dollars.

Calculated, a catty of cotton is less than 180 yuan, and a bolt of coarse cotton cloth is only [-] catties, and the price of cotton is only [-] yuan.

A piece of fine cotton cloth only costs about [-] Wen.

Today, a piece of coarse cotton cloth costs four taels of silver in the market, and a piece of fine cotton cloth costs three taels of silver.

In addition, the labor in this era is worthless, even if the spinning, weaving, dyeing and transportation are removed, the profit may be more than ten times that, which shows how huge profits, how profitable, and how frenzied those cotton cloth merchants in Jiangnan are.

And these are just the two most common types of cotton cloth, silk and high-quality fine cotton cloth, the profit may be as high as dozens, hundreds of times.

This can also explain why most of the fertile fields in the south of the Yangtze River have now become mulberry fields, and they still have to buy grain from Huguang and Jiangxi every year.

After careful consideration, the wholesale price of cotton cloth that Zhu Cihong gave them was one tael for coarse cloth and nine taels for fine cloth, and the recycling price was one tael for coarse cloth and one tael for fine cloth.

They dyed a piece of coarse cloth for a profit of two denarii, and dyed a bolt of fine cloth for a profit of one denarius.

As for the final retail price, the rough cloth in the northern provinces is [-] to [-] renminbi, while in the south it is [-] to [-] renminbi.

Fine cloth costs one to two or three to one or two five coins in each province in the north, and one or two to two or one horse in each province in the south.

Counting the cost of transportation and the royal store, in fact, Zhu Cihong didn't make much money in dyeing and retailing, and he didn't want to make much money.

Even spinning and weaving don't plan to make a lot of money. He is satisfied if he can earn two or three renminbi for a piece of cloth.

In the future, when the efficiency of spinning and weaving improves and the common people have money, then they will consider making money.

The wholesale price of coarse cloth is 1000 renminbi, and the cost of cotton is 180 renminbi. It takes about four days for each person to spin a piece of cloth. In the past, it would take nearly half a month. Zhu Cihong plans to give 200 renminbi to those spinning women for a piece of cloth. The salary is 50 Wen per day, and one tael or five money a month.

Give those weaver girls a processing fee of 500 cash for a piece of cloth, so that only 120 cash is left. After deducting the management and transportation costs, it is really not profitable.

However, the price of cotton is a bit high now. The normal price should be one tael of silver per stone, and the price of grain is five coins per stone.

After Zhu Cihong told the price, everyone made calculations and were overjoyed.

They almost never plan to sell the cloth to the royal shop, but prepare to sell it themselves.

However, their illusions were immediately shattered by Zhu Cihong, because the royal family would also open a large-scale dyeing and weaving workshop, so it would be impossible for everyone to sell at a higher price.

Although everyone was extremely disappointed, they also signed cooperation contracts one after another, and they all prepared to open a dyeing and weaving workshop to perfunctory.

After all, it is also related to the emperor, and it will be convenient to do other business in the future, and no one will refuse.

The workshops in the industrial area outside the city will definitely not sell them, they will only rent them out. Zhu Cihong can provide the raw material formula of the cloth dyeing workshop for free, and they can even send workers to the cloth dyeing workshop to study for a period of time.

After everyone left, Princess Kunxing had been waiting at the gate of the palace for a long time, and even built a shed directly, bringing dozens of shopkeepers and a large amount of Yuanbao banknotes.

Seeing the princess's posture, everyone didn't dare to pretend to be stupid, and lined up obediently to prepare for the loan.

"Dingguo Gong, you are also the Duke of my Ming Dynasty after all, with only 500 taels of silver, how big a cloth dyeing workshop do you plan to open?"

"Then I don't know how much the princess thinks the old minister should borrow?" Duke Ding asked cautiously.

"At least tens of thousands of taels, this is in line with the status of the Duke!"

"His Royal Highness is right, so the old minister will borrow 5 taels."

Duke Ding's face twitched, the money in his family was almost moldy, where did he need a loan?
But the princess said so, how dare he refuse to borrow it?
His Majesty dotes on Princess Kunxing, the imperial sister, very much, but it's a well-known fact, if this offends her, it's okay to go back and say something bad in front of His Majesty?

Princess Kunxing was overjoyed immediately, the monthly interest of 5 taels was 500 taels, which was like a robbery.

Thinking of this, Princess Kunxing felt a burst of emotion in her heart, if her father had asked her to open a bank like her brother, why would she have to worry about money all day long?
With Dingguo making his head public, other dignitaries and landlords and gentry couldn't borrow too little, and they were perfunctory, and in the end they borrowed a whole million taels.

After tidying up, Princess Kunxing did not go to announce the good news to Zhu Cihong, but immediately went to Xiyuan to see Chongzhen.

"My son-in-law pays respects to his father."

"You don't need to be polite, come and sit. See how happy you are. You made money again today?" Seeing his daughter coming to see him again, Chongzhen was also in a good mood. Now he can get out of bed and walk, and his complexion looks much better.

"Father, my son borrowed another one million taels today, earning a full 100 taels of interest."

Princess Kunxing helped him to sit down and said with a smile.

"What? I borrowed another 100 million taels? Who did they borrow it from? You didn't force me, did you?"

Chongzhen was also surprised. At first, he felt that his daughter's publicity would hurt the royal face, and reprimanded him several times, but Princess Kunxing not only didn't get angry, but came to announce the good news to him every day.

After a long time, seeing his daughter happy every day, Chongzhen was also affected, and his mood gradually improved, and he also looked away, and even his condition improved.

"Father, borrowing money from the bank is a matter of my own will, how can I force you?" Princess Kunxing explained to him the matter of borrowing money today after finishing speaking.

Hearing that his son was opening some kind of weaving and dyeing workshop and attracting a large number of honorable gentlemen, Chongzhen frowned slightly, and asked in a hurry: "My son, the money lent to those military officers last time. Have you paid it back?"

"Going back to my father, I have paid it back a long time ago. I wish they would not return it. It is best to wait a year or two." Princess Kunxing said with a last look of regret.

Chongzhen twitched when he saw his daughter acting like a profiteer. He felt that his daughter, who was well-behaved and sensible before, had been taught badly by that bastard. It was really hateful.

However, he still couldn't hold back the curiosity in his heart and asked again: "My son, how much money is left in the bank now? How much money have you earned in the past six months?"

"Returning to Father Emperor, the exact amount is not easy to calculate. According to the statistics last month, the bank's principal is still about 1000 million taels, which has hardly decreased."

"So it's been more than half a year, but you haven't earned a penny?" Chongzhen was a little disappointed, and he was afraid that his daughter would be hurt by these words, and just wanted to comfort her, but Princess Kunxing quickly waved her hand and explained.

"Father can't do this calculation. Now the bank has spread all over the north, at least hundreds of branches have been opened. The monthly salaries of the shopkeepers, plus ink and paper fees, and transportation fees, etc., are very expensive. So it's pretty good to be able to keep the principal without losing much.

As for wanting the bank to make a profit, Brother Huang said that we have to wait another year or two, but I can't wait any longer. Next, the bank plans to give loans to ordinary people. Although Brother Huang said that ordinary people cannot set too high interest, But there are so many people. "

"Father, my son said something that shouldn't be said. Don't be angry. My son thinks that you got it wrong. Father shouldn't borrow money from those honorable civil servants, but should open a bank to lend money to them."

Princess Kunxing said weakly.

Although Chongzhen's face was a little ugly when he heard the words, he was not angry, but fell into deep thought.

He naturally understood the meaning of his daughter's words, that is, he should not have asked them to borrow money directly, but should have extorted high interest under the guise of lending them money, turning 1 taels into 5000 two.

(End of this chapter)