Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 221
If he didn't know that Jingji Commercial Bank was founded by Li Jing, then Xu Guangqi had doubts about whether Li Jing could run the Academy of Sciences, but since he knew that Jingji Commercial Bank was owned by Li Jing, the most difficult problem to solve would not be a problem.

Jingji Commercial Firm is now spread all over the entire Ming Empire, and there are at least ten of them in the capital. Xu Guangqi once went to Jingji Restaurant to eat, and there are not many people eating, but basically the people who dine in Jingji Restaurant are either officials or merchants. It is to do business for the rich, not to serve the common people.

Xu Guangqi has never been to the Jingji Brothel, after all, he is old and has no power, but Xu Guangqi has heard of that place. It is said that all the girls in it are good at singing and dancing, and some of them can write lyrics and poems. The business there is very hot. .

But Jingji Commercial Bank's most profitable business is not restaurants and brothels, but money houses and horse dealers.

Because these two businesses are all profitable.

The money bank is also the business of the rich, especially those businessmen.

There are two most profitable businesses in the bank, one is to save money and the other is to release money.

For the sake of convenience, merchants have to pay fees for depositing money in the bank, and a monthly management fee of one tael is charged for depositing 100 taels of silver.

It seems that the fee charged is not high, but those who deposit money in the bank are generally hundreds or thousands of taels.

As long as a bank has 10 taels of silver in deposit, it can earn 1000 taels of silver every month.

As for lending money, it is a loan, and the monthly interest rate is five times that of saving money.

If a businessman does not have enough money to do business, he can borrow money from the bank, with 100 taels and [-] taels of interest per month.

The interest rate seems to be high, but it is far worse than the usury. The usury is like rolling a donkey, and the more it rolls, the money from the bank will naturally not be so black.Of course, borrowing money from banks requires collateral.

There is a bank near Xu Guangqi's home. Xu Guangqi is up and down, and people can often see people coming and going inside.

People who go in, whether they withdraw money or deposit money, end up sending money to the bank.

The second earner is the chariot and horse dealership, which undertakes all kinds of transportation business, and basically earns a few taels of silver for each business.

Xu Guangqi came to Shanxi from the capital, and the car and horse company took care of him all the way. Xu Guangqi naturally saw how much business the car and horse company had. That guy, the mighty motorcade can line up for more than a mile.

That money is earned much faster than being robbed by bandits.

What surprised Xu Guangqi was that Jingji Trading Co., Ltd. was doing such a big business, but no one thought about it.

You must know that those guys in the capital are not vegetarians, and there is no one to eat such a big fat sheep?Xu Guangqi was puzzled by this.

Xu Guangqi's research is practical learning, and he is not pedantic. He is not as hypocritical as some scholars, who obviously love money, but pretend to regard money as dung.

Xu Guangqi knows that money is inseparable from doing things.

However, what the imperial court lacks the most is money, and many things cannot be done at all.At the beginning, the emperor clearly promised to establish an academy of sciences, but due to lack of money, it finally fell through.

Now that Li Jing asked him to set up the Academy of Sciences and told him that it didn't matter how much money he wanted, Xu Guangqi knew that half of the work was done, and the rest depended on whether he could recruit people.

What Xu Guangqi has done in his life is all for the country. He knows very well how useful the Academy of Sciences will be to a country.

If the Academy of Sciences can be established, then Xu Guangqi will have no regrets in his life.

Therefore, Xu Guangqi agreed almost without hesitation.

Seeing Xu Guangqi's agreement, Li Jing looked at Sun Yuanhua and said with a smile: "I wonder if Mr. Chuyang intends to work here? It's just that the biggest official here is the magistrate. If you want to be the governor, you can't do it."

Hearing that Li Jing was joking with him, Sun Yuanhua didn't care.

However, Sun Yuanhua was very surprised to see that Li Jing spoke peacefully.

Although Li Jing is not a high-ranking official, but he has so much power in his hands that even the governor-general would be willing to bow down when he sees him, but he doesn't want to talk without airs, just talking like an ordinary person.

Seeing that Sun Yuanhua hesitated, Li Jing said seriously: "Sir, don't think about it, let me tell you the truth, if you go back to Beijing, you will be beheaded in all likelihood."

Sun Yuanhua suddenly raised his head: "You said the emperor will kill me?"

Seeing Sun Yuanhua's disbelief, Li Jing shook his head and said, "I have received news that someone has falsely accused you of being a traitor. You have offended these people before."

With a smile, Li Jing continued: "Of course, there are people who protect you. The first assistant Zhou Yanru will protect you. Unfortunately, the second assistant Wen Tiren wants to use your affairs to attack Zhou Yanru. In terms of conspiracy and tricks, Zhou Yanru is probably not Wen Tiren's opponent, that's why I said that your life is in danger when you go back."

Sun Yuanhua asked in surprise, "How do you know about the affairs of the court?"

Li Jing smiled and said: "If I don't know about the court affairs, how can I send someone to rescue you when Kong Youde rebelled and attacked Dengzhou?"

Sun Yuanhua was shocked when he heard this.

He had been wondering why Li Jing would send someone to rescue him. It turned out that Li Jing had informed the court that he had already learned of Kong Youde's rebellion.But how did Li Jing dare to conclude that Kong Youde would be able to attack Dengzhou City?

Regarding Li Jing and Sun Yuanhua, he was full of doubts. This man was as rich as an enemy, knew everything about the court, and had a heavy army in his hands. What exactly did he want to do?
Seeing Sun Yuanhua looking at him in doubt, Li Jing smiled and said: "Mr. Sun, Mr. Yuan knows everything Li Jing is going to do. If you have any questions, just ask Mr. Yuan."

Hearing what Li Jing said, Sun Yuanhua immediately felt relieved.

Sun Yuanhua naturally knew who Yuan Keli was, and he was his predecessor a few years ago.

It can be said that Yuan Keli regards money as dung and fame as floating clouds, but he is truly dedicated to the country and the people.

Yuan Keli hadn't heard from him in the past few years since he became an official. Obviously, he had been with Li Jing for a long time. Yuan Keli was tired of his official career, but he was willing to assist Li Jing. He must know that what Li Jing did was for the country and the people.

Sun Yuanhua felt inferior to Yuan Keli's vision of people. Yuan Keli came to help Li Jing, so what else could he say?

Sun Yuanhua doesn't understand the principles of being an official, but he is by no means a fool. Since Li Jing said that Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren were fighting openly and secretly, his dereliction of duty this time must become a pawn in the struggle between the two. It can be said that returning to Beijing is indeed a disaster. few.

Although Sun Yuanhua is not afraid of death, he does not want to be a victim of others' struggle for power and profit.

Thinking of this, Sun Yuanhua had no hesitation, and said with a smile: "Mr. Jiehuan and Master Zi are both staying here to work. If Sun has anything to say, he will naturally stay."

Li Jing smiled: "Mr. Sun, I would like to ask you to assist Mr. Xu in setting up the Academy of Sciences. Mr. Sun should be wronged to take up the post of vice president."

Sun Yuanhua said with a smile: "Many years ago, Mr. Sun assisted Master Zixian in compiling geometry originals. Now that he has the opportunity to work with Master Zixian again, it is a dream."

Li Jingjing nodded, and looked at the equation next to Xu Guangqi: "Wujie, you should also serve as the vice president. Mr. Xu is getting old, and you need to work harder on many things."

"Don't worry, Commander." Fang Fang cupped his hands.

Li Jingjing nodded, turned to Sun Yuanhua and said, "Mr. has brought a lot of foreign friends this time. Mister must know what strengths these people have. Please use them according to your ability."

What Sun Yuanhua is most worried about now is how to arrange these people. It is rare that Li Jing has no intention of discriminating against those foreigners and takes them all in.

But Li Jing knew that when Chen Erhu brought back some foreigners, he knew that these people were the assistants hired by Sun Yuanhua.

When Sun Yuanhua seeks someone to help him, he must choose someone who is capable, and these foreigners, Li Jing, will naturally not let them go.

Moreover, Li Jing hoped to introduce Western learning into his rule. With these foreigners as models, he could attract a large number of foreigners in the future.

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "I know that the two gentlemen know a lot of foreign friends, and I will show the two gentlemen here, as long as the gentleman can invite them, the salary will be absolutely generous. If they move here, Li will also arrange them properly."

Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua nodded after hearing this.

Both Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua are Catholics, they admire the Western style, and they like the pragmatic style of foreigners, and the Academy of Sciences needs pragmatic people.

Moreover, most of the foreigners they knew had real talents, especially those missionaries.

Those missionaries generally know some knowledge of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, etc., especially in medicine, basically missionaries know a little bit.

In fact, in the West in this era, most of the knowledge is in the hands of those in the church, and no one who can be a missionary is illiterate.

Moreover, the missionaries who came to China at this time were not like those who came to China at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Most of the missionaries who came to China at the end of the Qing Dynasty were under the guise of preaching, but their real purpose was to make money by panning for gold.

The missionaries who came to China during the Ming Dynasty really came to spread the teachings, and they really used their knowledge to help the Chinese around them.

Li Jing continued: "The purpose of our establishment of the Academy of Sciences is to study science, but after the research is done, we can't just put it aside and use it. For example, in medicine, the results of research must be produced, so as to benefit the people. "

Smiling, Li Jing said: "In the future, I plan to build a pharmaceutical factory. Some people's common problems can be directly treated with off-the-shelf medicines, so as to save minor illnesses from having to see a doctor. This will save a lot of consultation fees, right?"

After hearing Li Jing's words, everyone laughed lightly.

After waving his hand, Li Jing continued, "In the future, we will build many factories here, and we will produce all the achievements of the Academy of Sciences that can be used in people's livelihood."

"Then should we build a factory to make guns?" Sun Yuanhua asked.

Sun Yuanhua's specialty is making cannons. If he is not allowed to make cannons here, he will naturally feel that something is missing.

But after hearing Sun Yuanhua's words, everyone laughed again.

Yuan Keli pointed at Sun Yuanhua with a smile and said, "Chuyang, have you seen the weapons used by our soldiers?"

Sun Yuanhua nodded hastily.

Yuan Keli laughed and said, "If there is no military factory, how will these weapons be produced?"

After a pause, Yuan Keli continued: "The weather will be warmer in two months, and then I will show you the production equipment that Jimin made. The weapons we use are all produced in batches with equipment."

"Equipment? What equipment?" Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua wondered.

Yuan Keli smiled and shook his head: "I don't understand this, but you will know it after reading it."

Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua nodded, knowing that Yuan Keli was not good at practical studies.

(End of this chapter)