The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 176 There are still those who are not afraid of death

Wanshengtang Pharmacy was extremely popular in the capital.

The people of Beijing would go to Wanshengtang Pharmacy wherever they could, no matter if their illness was serious or minor.

Golden elixir, silver elixir, dragon elixir and tiger elixir have become topics of comparison among wealthy people. It seems a bit embarrassing to go out without buying some food.

Now is the time to consider expansion.

Wanli's goal is not the business in the capital.

He wanted to promote the medical industry throughout the Ming Dynasty and even the world.

There are many ways to do this expansion.

For example, by leveraging the fame that Wanshengtang Pharmacy had gained in the capital and even northern Zhili, it quickly opened branches throughout northern Zhili.

For example, continue to use the same method to build a reputation in Nanzhili and the other thirteen provinces, and first open fourteen large branches.

He plans to implement these two plans at the same time.

However, to do this requires not only sufficient patented medicines but also many qualified doctors.

He considered it carefully for several days and then called together relevant personnel to discuss it.

Early in the morning around noon that day, a large group of people gathered in the lobby of the former county government office in Miyun Palace.

However, this time, except for Duke Peng Qi Jiguang, several other dukes and nobles did not come. Instead, they were replaced by Earl Yongnian Wang Wei, father-in-law of the emperor Zhang Zhen, Li Tingji, Zhou Danquan, Li Fang and others.

At this moment, what was placed on the large table in the middle was no longer medicine, but a map, a map of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

After everyone arrived, Wanli asked directly, "Doctor Wan, how is the profit of Wanshengtang Pharmacy in the capital?"

This one.

Wan Bangzhong couldn't help but sigh, "There are so many wealthy people in the capital. The Golden Pill, Silver Pill, Dragon Pill, and Tiger Pill are all worth at least a hundred taels a box. We can sell as much as we make every day. The profit from this alone is almost ten thousand taels a day."

Uh, how much do you make and how much do you sell?

This means that the Golden Pill, Silver Pill, Dragon Pill and Tiger Pill are out of stock!

Wanli couldn't help but be surprised and asked, "Divine Doctor Li, how many boxes of Golden Pill, Silver Pill, Dragon Pill, and Tiger Pill can we produce in a day now?"

They had a division of labor. Qi Jiguang was responsible for purchasing medicinal materials, the Li father and son were responsible for making the medicine, and the Wan brothers were responsible for selling the medicine. This was arranged long ago.

Li Shizhen sighed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, we don't have enough medicinal materials. We can't make many boxes a day.

There is simply not enough wild ginseng and pearls needed for the Golden Pill and the Silver Pill. We are lucky if we can make twenty or thirty boxes a day. There are several medicinal materials in the Dragon Pill and the Tiger Pill that are purely collected, and there are not many wild ones. We are lucky if we can make fifty or sixty boxes a day.

The problem with Dragon Pill and Tiger Pill is relatively easy to solve. We are trying to find ways to cultivate the medicinal materials, and the output should be able to increase next year.

There's really no way to make Golden and Silver Pills, and wild ginseng and pearls can't be cultivated."

We have to find a way to do this. The capital city is not saturated yet. If we start doing business in Jinling and other big cities, it will not be a problem to sell hundreds of boxes a day, which means a profit of tens of thousands of taels a day.

They rely on this to continuously suck money from rich people, so they must find a way to increase the production of these things.

Wanli asked again, "Yuan Jing, are wild ginseng and pearls still unavailable even though their prices have increased?"

Qi Jiguang slowly shook his head and said, “We have raised the purchase price from one tael of silver to five taels of silver, but we can only purchase this much in a day.

There is no other way. If a dried wild ginseng weighs more than one liang per piece, it means it is more than a hundred years old and is sold by the piece. The ones I can purchase are less than one liang, and they are all small. Generally, more than ten pieces can make up one liang.

The same goes for pearls. We can only buy pearls the size of mung beans and soybeans. It takes at least a hundred pearls to make one tael. Anything larger than soybeans is used to make jewelry, and they are sold by the piece, not by a few taels or one tael.

Wanli asked directly, "How much is a piece of wild ginseng that's over a hundred years old? How much is a pearl that's bigger than a soybean?"

This one.

Qi Jiguang said with a slight exaggeration: "Wild ginseng that is over a hundred years old costs at least several hundred or even a thousand taels per piece, and some can even cost several thousand or even tens of thousands of taels per piece.

Pearls larger than soybeans weigh at least ten liang each, and some even weigh dozens or even hundreds of liang. The problem is, pearls are only that big, the largest being the size of a peanut, so you need at least fifty to make up one liang."

This guy is so expensive!
The current profit margins on Golden and Silver Pills are hundreds or even thousands of times greater. The problem is, if you buy wild ginseng that's over a century old and pearls larger than soybeans, you won't be able to make a profit that many times greater. Wanli frowned, pondering for a moment, then asked, "Doctor Li, do these wild ginseng and pearls become more potent the older they are?"

Li Shizhen nodded slightly and said, "That's for sure. Many medicines are like this, especially tonic medicines."

Upon hearing this, Wanli decisively said, "We will also import wild ginseng that is over a hundred years old and pearls that are larger than soybeans.

However, the golden elixir and silver elixir made from wild ginseng and pearls are not ordinary golden elixir and silver elixir. We change their names to Golden Immortal Pill and Silver Immortal Pill.

Please add some more gold and silver powder to the glass bottles that Zhou Gong uses to store the Golden and Silver Immortal Pills. Father-in-law, the boxes that store the Golden and Silver Immortal Pills should be made of golden nanmu wood.

We're raising the price of the Golden Immortal Pill and the Silver Immortal Pill. The Golden Immortal Pill will be raised to 1,200 taels per box, and the Silver Immortal Pill will be raised to 1,080 taels per box."

what?
So expensive!
Upon hearing this, Wan Bangzhong was shocked and said, "Your Majesty, is there anyone who would buy a tonic that costs over a thousand taels a box?"

You don't know how rich those people are. What's a thousand taels? Some of them have hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Don't worry, some people will buy it. Some people have so much money that they can't spend it all. They will buy this kind of medicine that can prolong life no matter how expensive it is.

Don't worry about that, there will definitely be people who will buy it. Wan Shen Yi, how about the profit of ordinary medicine?"

Uh, this.

Wan Bangzhong said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, the profit of ordinary medicine is not high. Now there are thousands of people in the capital who go to Wanshengtang Pharmacy to see a doctor and buy medicine every day. Some people buy medicine in boxes. If we calculate it by the bottle, we can sell tens of thousands of bottles a day.

However, the profit from ordinary medicine is very low. On average, we can only make a few wen per bottle. Even if we produce tens of thousands of bottles, the profit is only a few hundred taels a day."

This income is actually very good.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Ordinary medicine can actually make a lot of money. The key is quantity. If we can open Wanshengtang Pharmacy throughout the two capitals and thirteen provinces, then it won't be tens of thousands of bottles a day. Even a hundred thousand boxes a day is not enough.

By the way, Doctor Li, how many medicines do we have in stock?"

Li Shizhen estimated, "We still have a fairly large inventory of common medicines. Our current daily output is over 5,000 boxes. We sell over 1,000 boxes a day and still have around 4,000 boxes in stock. In the past ten days or so, we've almost stockpiled 50,000 boxes."

Wanli shook his head slowly and said, "The production of this ordinary medicine is far from enough. There are thousands of cities in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and the population is as high as hundreds of millions.

Let’s not talk about the elderly and sickly people who lie in bed every day. Among these hundreds of millions of people, 70% to 80% will get some minor illness every year, and they will still take some cheap medicine if they can buy it.

Therefore, we have to continue to increase the production of this common medicine. Five thousand boxes a day is far from enough. We need at least fifty thousand boxes a day.

Yuan Jing, is there a sufficient supply of common medicinal herbs now? If we go all out to purchase them, how much can we produce in a day?

Qi Jiguang estimated, "Most of the herbs we purchased this year were harvested. Producing 5,000 boxes a day is already considered good. If we want to produce more than 50,000 boxes a day, we'll have to wait until next year until all the herbs we and the various military garrisons have grown are grown."

There is no other way. It seems that it will not be possible to promote it to the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty this year. The medicine cannot keep up, and it is useless to promote it.

Wanli thought about it carefully, and then said: "Then let's open branches of Wanshengtang Pharmacy all over Northern Zhili this year. We must open branches in every prefecture, capital and county, and we will provide free medical treatment for three days at each branch.

Doctor Li, Doctor Wan, please take a moment to show your disciples around. You can also test them to see how good their medical skills are.

If your disciples' medical skills are good enough, you can place them in the branch offices in various prefectures and counties. You can initially pay them five taels of silver a month, and then you can assess their medical skills once a year. The better the skills, the higher the salary."

Upon hearing this, Li Shizhen, Wan Bangzhong and others nodded repeatedly and said, "We understand."

Wanli then instructed, "Zhang Guozhang, you can help them buy a shop. Er Zhang, you should pay more attention to the Wanshengtang Pharmacy. We are going to publish an issue next year specifically introducing the medical skills and pharmacy of Wanshengtang Pharmacy."

Zhang Zhen and Li Tingji nodded repeatedly and said, "We understand."

Next, they discussed the issues of medicinal herb cultivation and pharmaceutical workshops.

After Wanli had discussed with them, he went to the study in the second hall of the palace to review memorials.

Yu Youcai had divided the memorials into categories for him and sent them to him. He reviewed the important ones, while Li Xuancheng, Sun Hai and Ke Yong reviewed the unimportant ones. The four of them could basically finish reviewing them in less than a whole morning.

He was the one with the easiest job, because there were only about ten important memorials to be reviewed every day. After he finished reviewing them, he could go and accompany Queen Wang and Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan.

However, after reviewing more than ten important memorials today, he sat there holding a memorial, frowning and thinking for a long time.

He had Jiang Yinglin's entire family executed, yet there were still people who were not afraid of death and dared to submit a petition requesting the establishment of a crown prince!

(End of this chapter)