A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 118 How Much Money Can You Make by Making Fake Jiaozi (Part )
Or was it something that Song Xuan's family deliberately spread?
Lu Yijian had some questions in his mind, so he wrote back to his cousin Lu Lejian, asking him to communicate more with Song Xuan so as to resolve his doubts.

Because Lu Yijian came from a privileged family, he didn't believe that there was a person in the world who was both good at studying and good at making money.

In his opinion, many Jinshi scholars did not perform as well as they did in studying and taking exams after becoming officials.

Taken together, Song Xuan's actions.

It is inevitable that this is the work of that small family, which is trying to gain fame.

This method was already used to death when the aristocratic families were in control.

Lying on the ice to catch carp, and other similar good names, are all for the sake of official career.

But Lu Yijian saw something different in Song Xuan.

Because Song Xuan did not encourage many students to follow him and ask Dou Chou for fairness by just shouting a few slogans.

Instead, his words really hit the pain points in the hearts of those students and their interests that were about to be damaged.

Tied their interests to your own.

Help him Song Xuan.

Just help themselves!
In the future, you will not be harmed by second-generation people like Dou Chou’s son.

This is why so many people followed him indignantly to cause trouble.

Especially Song Xuan's style of behavior in prison, he spent real money to win over others.

People can get excited by a few slogans, but these emotions come and go quickly.

Actions like Song Xuan's deliberate detour revealed this guy's scheming.

Lu Yijian, who knew more news than others, did not agree with Wang Zeng, but prepared to see what Cao Liyong had to say.

He believed that Cao Liyong had not revealed all the true information about Song Xuan.

At least Cao Liyong didn't say out some of the things that Lu Yijian knew.

He went to Songcheng, and it was impossible that he didn't know things that he knew himself.

In particular, Cao Liyong had just taken the initiative to speak for Song Xuan. It was Dou Hanxian, the son of Dou Chou, who was jealous of his talent and asked his father to put pressure on him.

Dou Chou was delighted to see the prey and wanted to subdue Song Xuan to serve him, but Song Xuan flatly refused. Dou Chou became angry and wanted to destroy Song Xuan.

In Lu Yijian's opinion, these words were too subjective.

Cao Liyong doesn't seem to be telling the whole story from a fair and impartial perspective.

He has his own stance!
To put it simply, Cao Liyong's butt is already crooked.

Lu Yijian also didn't believe that Song Xuan would bribe Cao Liyong to speak for him in the court.

Although Cao Liyong is arrogant in his daily life, he has a bottom line, and not everyone can catch his eye.

So Lu Yijian currently has no idea of ​​his motives.

Perhaps Song Xuan's tragic life experience touched Empress Dowager Liu's memories, and she asked:
"Song Xuan is fearless and truly the backbone of our Song Dynasty students. The court should commend him. What do you think?"

Wang Zeng immediately agreed that not everyone can withstand the pressure from power.

Many officials could not resist it, but a young student did, so he should be rewarded.

Wang Qinruo also agreed that this boy deserved to be rewarded, and it was necessary to prove to the world that Dou Chou committed suicide out of fear of punishment, and was definitely not forced by the court or the empress dowager.

After all, the ancestral system of the Song Dynasty is there.

Zhao Zhen, who had been sitting on the throne, became more convinced that Song Xuan was not the little beggar Song Wenwan from that year, because he said that he had no father or mother.

"I think it's inappropriate."

Lu Yijian felt that there was something wrong with Song Xuan's behavior.

Once the award is given, it means he has the endorsement of the court, and it will be easier for him to operate in the future.

But that's not the case, because he can't reveal the cards he knows. Cao Liyong only reveals his cards selectively, and who knows what deeper plans are behind it.

"Since Song Xuan is so outstanding, he must be proven through the imperial examination. Otherwise, everyone will try to imitate him, and the authority of the Song Dynasty will be damaged in the end."

"Moreover, such a talented person should not be forced to grow too fast, lest he become arrogant and lose focus on the imperial examinations, which would actually harm him."

Everyone agreed with Lu Yijian's words. Cao Liyong had a blank expression on his face. These useless civil servants were all proud of their status as Jinshi.

However, this was the prevailing atmosphere in the Song Dynasty, so Cao Liyong would not say much. After all, his father had passed the imperial examination, which was why he had the opportunity to sit here today.

Cao Liyong did not dislike those who were Jinshi graduates, but this group of people with Jinshi graduates formed a small group and excluded people like him, which made him feel that this group was disgusting.

"That makes sense."

Empress Dowager Liu didn't say anything more. As a politician, her emotions came and went quickly.

If you cannot control your emotions well, you are not a qualified politician.

Seeing that the Queen Mother agreed to this matter, Lü Yijian took advantage of the situation and said:

"Yan Shu has done a good job in Yingtian Prefecture. Should we transfer him back to the central government? Dou Chou's position as a Hanlin scholar will definitely need to be filled."

Empress Dowager Liu raised her eyes.

She understood that the previous preparations were over, so what was the importance of the student named Song Xuan?

This is the theme of today's political discussion.

Lu Yijian was still too anxious and directly pushed Yan Shu out.

But how long had Yan Shu been in Yingtian Prefecture before they called him back?
Even if Liu E wanted to use Yan Shu, she would not let him come back immediately.

Cao Liyong pricked up his ears and listened. He wanted to see who these people wanted to put in this position.

……

The yard suddenly became much quieter, and now only Song Xuan's own people were left.

Among the six people present, Song Xuan began to ask how the printing preparations were going.

Although we found a craftsman, engraving the copper plate is still quite expensive and laborious.

"How much money can we make from selling books?" Song Xuan shook his head:

"You don't have to be the best at everything, just focus on the key points. We mainly sell chapter novels and give away three- and five-star lottery tickets to make a profit. The most important thing is to prevent the three- and five-star lottery tickets from being counterfeited."

Tao Hong nodded to show that he understood. They had been visiting outside for the past few days, trying to find out how Jiaozi was made.

Now that the imperial court is promoting Jiaozi, Jiaozi must be anti-counterfeiting, and it does a good job.

"Master, I went to ask about the Jiaozi. First, the printing technology is complex, with multi-color overprinting, intricate patterns, and special paper. Second, it uses official seals, and multiple seals at that."

"The third anti-counterfeiting measure is a special font and secret codes, and the fourth is a unique number and a registration system.

We can do the first four, but we have little chance of meeting the fifth and sixth points regarding public oversight and legal penalties."

"Once someone makes a fake, we won't be able to retaliate. Instead, they'll say we won the lottery and are deliberately not paying."

Song Xuan nodded. What Tao Hong said made a lot of sense. It was obvious that he had gone into the market to conduct in-depth research.

"Yes, although we make money from the three and five-star lottery, this is a gift."

Jiao Ming also understood that his young master was trying to exploit loopholes in the laws of the Song Dynasty.

Anyway, the novels we sell, as for the three and five-star lottery, are completely free gifts, but they are not protected by the laws of the Song Dynasty and fall into a gray area. Song Xuan noted this difficulty. The key is that someone must endorse this matter with credit.

He couldn't think of any good solution for a moment.

However, Song Xuan knew that as long as there was a system, humans would always try to find ways to exploit loopholes in the system in order to profit for themselves.

If he can exploit loopholes in the system to run the five-star lottery, can't others exploit his five-star lottery system to make money?
We are all mutual!
And what if there is a master of drawing who can make bills more real than the ones you print? How can you prevent it?

Song Xuan didn't disagree that such people existed. As long as they were willing to study hard, this kind of anti-counterfeiting method could be cracked quickly.

Unless the treasure notes are issued indiscriminately like those in the Ming Dynasty, and their value keeps dropping, it will be no longer worth counterfeiting.

Don’t think that there were no talented people in ancient times. In the Northern Song Dynasty, a man was arrested for forging Jiaozi and exiled to Fuzhou, Fujian.

Forced by the governor of Fuzhou, he made counterfeit banknotes again, using pear wood carvings, printing in red, blue and black, and official special paper, making the counterfeit banknotes difficult to distinguish between true and false.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, a painter, whose family fell into poverty, forged Huizi notes. He used superb painting techniques and special ink to make the counterfeit notes difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake.

These are all masters. The other cheaters all have their own ways of cheating and are easier to identify.

"Let's continue preparing. We can't just stop planting crops when the crickets start chirping."

Song Xuan thought for a moment and said, "A person with this kind of skill is just like Zhang Fangping. It's hard to find another one in the world."

Tao Hong smiled and said, "Master, I remembered an interesting story I heard recently."

"Oh?"

When Tao Hong saw that Song Xuan agreed, he said that everyone thought Zhang Fangping had a photographic memory, but in fact there was another prime minister who also had a photographic memory, and that was Ding Wei who ate insects in Yazhou.

Ding Wei, he has to be ranked first among the Five Ghosts of the Song Dynasty.

"It's over. Fang Ping has a rival." Song Xuan then smiled. "It's a pity that Ding Wei is old, and his memory may have declined significantly."

The others couldn't help but laugh out loud.

In short, finding ways to make money must be put on the agenda.

Otherwise, if you always do nothing, problems will be more likely to occur.

"Master, there's one more thing. Printing and other things are easy to find. We've learned how to do that. The most important thing is the supply of raw materials. That's a big job."

"Ah."

Song Xuan nodded. If the raw materials were not sufficient, it would be like someone was strangling him.

Just as he was thinking, Song Xuan saw Mr. Lei on the street and he seemed to be coming towards him.

Despite the hot weather, Mr. Lei came over and asked Song Xuan if he could teach his men how to do accounting.
The three people he chose were all family-born and smart, and perhaps they could learn the Longmen accounting method.

Song Xuan first poured some cold soup for Mr. Lei, asked him to take a rest, and fanned himself with a folding fan.

"Of course, I won't let Shi Er Lang teach me in vain."

"Of course I trust Mr. Lei." Song Xuan picked up the pot and refilled his cup. "I just happen to have something I want to ask Mr. Lei for help."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Lei slapped his chest loudly:

"As long as it's something I can do, just ask, Twelve Lang."

Song Xuan is going to be a Jinshi in the future, so he will definitely not compete with him, a businessman, for interests.

So Mr. Lei was very relieved.

"I want to make a lot of paper for Jiaozi."

"A lot of, Jiaozi, paper?"

These three words combined together made Mr. Lei feel a little cold in his heart, even colder than the cold paste in his hand.

No matter how you think about it, you have to make fake Jiaozi and then sell it!
He met the young Song Xuan when he was more ambitious.

Naturally, he knew clearly that Song Xuan was not a guy who would keep to himself.

The business world is like a battlefield. If you behave yourself, you can only keep your family business intact. As for business decline, it is also reasonable.

But if you want to continue to expand your business territory, you can't do it by staying within your means.

"Shi Er Lang, you have a bright future. There's no need to do any risky business."

Mr. Lei gave some tactful advice.

"You misunderstood me, didn't you?"

Song Xuan did not hide it from Mr. Lei, but told him about his plan to open a bookstore.

"bookstore?"

Mr. Lei was certain that Song Xuan was opening a bookstore as a cover.

Because he used the paper used for Jiaozi for printing, Song Xuan's bookstore had to pay so much that he lost all his underwear.

At that time, perhaps a widowed and wealthy young lady would be able to keep Song Xuan at home and exploit him to her heart's content.

He looked like this, and coupled with the huge disturbance he had caused a few days ago, he was also praised by the famous poet Liu Sanbian.

Song Xuan's reputation has spread throughout Songcheng, and many people have been secretly inquiring about whether Song Xuan is married or has any child marriages.

If not, someone will find a matchmaker to come and arrange a marriage for him.

If we don't seize such a dazzling scholar quickly, and wait until he passes the imperial examination before trying to become his son-in-law, how can we compete with the high-ranking officials in the capital?
"Does Mr. Lei have any channels?"

"Disaster."

Mr. Lei told Song Xuan that the main raw material of Jiaozi was Chengdu mulberry paper.

Chengdu mulberry paper is not only used to print banknotes, but also for official and private documents, certificates, and books.

The most important thing is that the channels are controlled by the government, making it difficult to purchase in large quantities.

"Unless you can buy it through government channels, there's no need to go all the way to Chengdu. You can even buy it from the government office in Yingtian Prefecture."

Lei Yuanwai whispered, "The government wastes a lot of paper, and they can also make a profit by selling waste paper."

Song Xuan understood. He vaguely remembered that after Fan Zhongyan implemented the new policy, many opposition groups attacked members of the new party.

Especially those recommended by Fan Zhongyan were the main targets of attack.

Su Shunqin was impeached because he and his colleagues embezzled the money from selling waste paper to hire singing girls to play music and entertain guests. He was directly demoted to a commoner without even going through the procedure of demotion.

"No, I want a legitimate channel."

Song Xuan indirectly killed Dou Chou, and his good student Gu Zimo was the magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture. Although he openly broke off his ties with Dou Chou's son, who knew that he was not secretly harboring a plan for revenge.

Song Xuan didn't want to give up his own evidence.

"Mr. Lei, you have been in business for many years and have many connections. Please help me find out."

"It's impossible that all the mulberry paper in Chengdu was produced just to make Jiaozi. The Song Dynasty has only officially produced Jiaozi for less than two years."

Mr. Lei also wanted to see what Song Xuan was trying to do with all that Chengdu mulberry paper. The most important thing was that the Longmen account in his hand was really attractive to him.

Especially what Song Xuan said was right. His family was large and his business was huge, involving many types of stores. He naturally didn't want his money to be taken away by termites and rats.

Which businessman can tolerate such a thing!
"Since Twelve Lang has said so, I will find out more."

(End of this chapter)