Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 82 Red-topped businessman! (Subscribe)
It was drizzling in Yingtianfu in April.

Xia Zhibai's "enterprise" has not yet officially started construction.

The deeds for the coal and salt mines allocated by the imperial court had been delivered a few days ago.

Xia Zhibai went there without any hesitation. The two coal mines and salt mines were located there. He was only accompanied by Heiwa and a few others.

He wanted to find out the situation of these two mines.

The news is mixed.

The good thing is that Zhu Yuanzhang was not too cold-blooded after all, and the coal mines and salt mines allocated to him were not brand new.

There are traces of use on it, which are minerals that were secretly mined in the past. After being discovered by the court, these people were killed along with their entire families, and the mines were sealed off.

If it has been used by someone else, it doesn’t count as starting from scratch.

It just took a while to clean up.

The salt mine is not too far from Yingtian Prefecture, less than ten miles away.

The bad news is that the two mines are too far apart.

It’s about twenty miles long.

It is not a big deal in later generations, but in this era when people carry things on their shoulders or on horses, it seems too far away. The transportation costs and manpower of transporting coal from another mine to the salt mine would be an extremely high expense.

This does not include the subsequent promotion to Yingtian Prefecture.

The freight costs on the road are also not small.

Xia Zhibai has to solve a series of problems.

During these five or six days, Xia Zhibai stayed in this abandoned mine almost all the time with dry food.

He took Heiwa and others to clean up the entire mine, and also repaired the ruins outside that had been knocked down and burned, and barely built a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

After quickly packing up, Xia Zhibai returned to Yingtian Prefecture.

The engineers from the Ministry of Industry are coming.

He also had to discuss the construction of a water-exhaust steam engine with the engineers from the Ministry of Industry.

In less than a week, Xia Zhibai lost a lot of weight.

Sitting on the ox cart returning to the city, Xia Zhibai closed his eyes and began to think seriously.

He is on a tight schedule.

In terms of time management, he wanted to get the salt wells and coal mines up and running in the first month, even if it was just a straw platform with only a rough framework, he had to get them running first.

If conditions permit, you must go; if conditions don’t exist, you must create conditions and go.

We must make salt.

In the second month, we began to refine some equipment and living environment, gradually improving efficiency, and tried to sell the salt.

In the third month, it was promoted in the eight counties of Yingtian Prefecture.

Everything is on track.

His purpose in responding to Tianfu this time was very clear.

Officially build the company's factory, start running machines regardless of their efficiency, recruit some qualified migrant workers, and get them started.

Xia Zhibai kept making choices in his mind.

Focus your energy on doing the right things.

A small courtyard in the west city of Yingtian Prefecture.

An old man in his sixties, with a slightly hunched body, but a spirited look in his eyes.

He was sitting on a stone bench, holding a blueprint in his hand, and next to him was an "ugly-looking" iron lump.

His name is Zhou Ning.

A minor official of the seventh rank in the Ministry of Works.

However, Zhou Ning never really considered himself an official. He was very aware of his situation. He was a "remnant of the previous dynasty" in the court. He originally followed in his father's footsteps and worked as a minor official in the Ministry of Works of the Yuan Dynasty. But after the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Yuan Dynasty, he simply changed his robes and became a worker official of the Ming Dynasty.

For someone with his background, unless something unexpected happens, he will basically work as an official until he dies.

Who would have thought that when the palace and the imperial city were being built more than ten years ago, many officials in the Ministry of Works were corrupt. Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he directly implicated thousands of people in the Ministry of Works. He was ill at the time and just managed to escape the disaster. Because the Ministry of Works was in a state of embezzlement, he was promoted to a seventh-rank official.

He jumped from a minor official to an official.

Crossed the gap between officials.

But in Yingtian Prefecture, where this brick was likely to hit a large number of officials and children of meritorious officials, his status as a seventh-rank official would be of no use at all.

The status is still very low.

More than ten years later, he is still a seventh-rank official.

Never moved.

The reason for coming here this time was the order from the Ministry of Industry.

Of course the most important reason is that other people are unwilling to come. Even if that person is the top scorer, when they hear that he is going to do business, many people look disgusted.

The Ministry of Industry finally had no choice but to assign the task to him, and he couldn't refuse.

He was actually quite interested in this steam engine.

This is also the main reason why I didn’t refuse.

"Governor Zhou, are we really going to stay here in the future?" After a moment of silence, an engineer behind Zhou Ning finally asked out of curiosity, "I heard that this number one scholar doesn't want to serve in the court, and even wants to turn down the position in the Hanlin Academy, and is determined to do business."

"Aren't we going to follow a businessman from now on?"

The engineer had a look of dissatisfaction and disgust on his face.

After all, he was an engineer working in the Ministry of Industry and was a well-known person.

He is unwilling to work for businessmen.

Zhou Ning turned around and looked at the people standing behind him. Naturally, he could see the dissatisfaction and complaints on their faces.

Although they were not valued and hardly used in the Ministry of Industry in the past, they were working for the Ministry after all, and they more or less had a sense of self-esteem and pride.

But now he was "demoted" to the side of a businessman, and he couldn't accept it for a while.

The gap is too big.

Zhou Ning said: "This is an order from the court."

"But Governor, you can obviously refuse. How many people in the Ministry of Industry can compare to your qualifications?" The man continued to complain: "If you don't want to, how dare they force you? Now that you have nodded, we will be exiled with you." Zhou Ning was very kind and explained slowly: "This is only temporary."

"We are serving the imperial court, how can we refuse?"

"And Li Sheng, your father and I have a history, you should actually understand our current situation."

"Your father and I both served in the previous dynasty. It is a great favor from the emperor that we can continue to serve the court with grace."

"The craftsmen are no different from others, they need to do it themselves."

"But how many projects have we actually taken charge of over the years? Most of them are left over by other officials in the Ministry of Works. Most of them are thankless, time-consuming and laborious, and are just a waste of time and energy."

“But this one is different.”

"I have never met this famous champion."

"But from the sketches he produced and some of the ideas he provided to the Ministry of Industry, we can see that he is a very thoughtful and enterprising person. I have a feeling that the steam engine he intends to build may be amazing, but it is just difficult to get started now."

"But given time, it may soar to the sky and make a big splash."

"We will also benefit from it then."

Li Sheng curled his lips, still looking impatient, and muttered in a low voice: "He is still a businessman. No matter how impressive a businessman is, he is still not in the mainstream. When we return to the Ministry of Industry in the future, I am afraid that we will be laughed at by others."

Zhou Ning frowned.

Just when Zhou Ning was about to speak, a voice was heard outside the house.

"Businessmen are indeed not in the mainstream and are indeed inferior to others, but I am different from other businessmen. I can be considered a 'red-top businessman'."

"Although he is still a businessman at heart, he still has the title of 'official' to some extent."

Xia Zhibai strode into the yard.

"Mr. Xia." Zhou Ning stood up and bowed to Xia Zhibai.

Xia Zhibai bowed in return.

Li Sheng lowered his head, his face flushed red.

It's really embarrassing to say bad things and be caught by the person who did it.

Zhou Ning opened his mouth, trying to defend Li Sheng, saying, "Mr. Xia, Li Sheng did not mean to make up this story. In today's world, many people look down on merchants, and he was temporarily influenced. In addition, his craftsmanship is actually quite exquisite, and he has not been valued for a long time. That's why he said this in a fit of anger. Please forgive me, Mr. Xia."

Xia Zhibai laughed and waved his hand, saying, "It's okay."

"I don't care about that."

"Businessmen are always full of money, which will naturally lead to dissatisfaction."

"I don't really have a favorable impression of merchants, but it is undeniable that merchants have greatly facilitated the circulation of goods throughout the world."

“Sometimes we need to face up to the existence of businessmen.”

"Being too subjective and ignoring other key points often blinds us to the tree that is the only thing we see."

"Mr. Xia, since you don't have much affection for businessmen, why do you insist on doing business?" Li Sheng also plucked up the courage and asked curiously.

Others also looked at Xia Zhibai curiously.

Xia Zhibai was very honest and told the truth directly: "Because of money."

"The world is very snobbish."

"Without money, many things cannot be done in today's world."

"I need money."

“It takes a lot of money.”

"Like you, you may be very skilled and have a pioneering vision, and you really want to do something big, but the money the court allocates to you every year is only a few or dozens of taels. With this little money, no matter how talented or capable you are, how much can you accomplish?"

"me too."

“I have a lot of things I want to do.”

"But we can't do it just by relying on the government's funding, so we have to find a way ourselves."

"it's here."

"I will try my best to meet all your needs."

"At the same time, I have high expectations for you. The more you contribute, the more you will gain and the greater the rewards will be."

"In other aspects, I won't impose too many restrictions on you."

"This is the promise that Xia Zhibai made to you."

"If you have any dissatisfaction or complaints, you can speak out."

"I, Xia Zhibai, can answer all your questions."

Zhou Ning and others looked at each other.

They didn't expect Xia Zhibai to say this and were stunned for a moment.

A little bit.

Li Sheng blushed slightly and asked timidly, "Mr. Xia, according to what you said, I can do what I want here? As long as I complete the tasks you ask? And you will be responsible for all the expenses?"

Xia Zhibai shook his head: "I won't provide any extra expenses, but if you do your job well, there will be other rewards. The better you do, the more rewards you will get."

"in short."

"The more you work, the more you get; the less you work, the less you get."

"As long as you contribute enough, you will receive various rewards."

"I, Xia Zhibai, will not be stingy in this regard, and I will not be the slightest bit mean."

"Of course, the premise is that you need to meet my requirements."

Li Sheng's expression changed again and again, and finally his eyes became firm.

He still couldn't resist the temptation. As a young man in his early twenties, he had great ambitions in his heart. However, he had always been neglected and ignored in the Ministry of Industry and had never had the opportunity to display his talents. Now that Xia Zhibai was willing to give him this opportunity, how could he not give it a try?
The top scholar should not be a liar.

Li Sheng gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll do it with you."

Xia Zhibai smiled.

He turned his head and cast his gaze towards Zhou Ning and others.

He needs to train a team of excellent 'engineers'.

(End of this chapter)