Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 398 Forced Buying and Selling
"I am Shen Rong, a Suzhou merchant, and I am here with the Shen family members to pay my respects to the commander-in-chief!"

"Stand up, no need to be polite."

"Thank you, Marshal!"

In the central hall of the second entrance of the Marshal's Mansion, after Shen Rong and his companions got up from the ground, Lu Jin looked at the almost fifty-year-old old man in front of him and said.

"From now on, under my rule, you don't have to kneel down and kowtow all the time. Since ancient times, we Han people have only kneeled down and kowtowed when we worship our ancestors, the gods of heaven and earth, when ministers worship the emperor, sons worship their fathers, and disciples worship their teachers. Don't use the way the Tartars enslaved our nobles, kneeling down to everyone, as they did here.

"I have finally driven the Tartars away, but I don't want you to keep kneeling. You must learn to stand up."

Shen Rong was very smart when he heard this and bowed his hands and replied, "I was terrified. I just felt that you drove out the Tartars and rebuilt China, so that my Han people no longer had to work like slaves for the barbarians. It was really a blessing, like a rebirth of my parents. When I saw you, it was like seeing my parents. I couldn't help myself. This was rude. I hope you won't blame me."

Seeing this old man who was almost fifty recognize him as his father on the spot, Lu Jin thought that this man was very flexible. He couldn't help but smile and said, "You are good at talking. This won't happen again. Please take a seat."

"Thank you, Marshal!"

After the group sat down, Lu Jin took the initiative to say, "The Shen family is the richest in Jiangdong, and their reputation of being rich enough to rival a country is well known outside."

Shen Rong was grinning in his heart. He didn't dare to take on the title of being rich enough to rival a country. It was fatal. He quickly said, "Marshal, don't take it seriously. The saying that he is the richest man in Jiangdong and rich enough to rival a country are all rumors. Although the Shen family has made some money in business over the years, they are definitely not the richest."

Lu Jin pretended to be puzzled and asked, "Oh? So, there is a family in Jiangdong that is richer than your Shen family? I wonder which family it is?"

"This..." Shen Rong was speechless.

Lu Jin didn't take it seriously and continued, "Although your Shen family is well-known, I have never heard of you. Your father, Shen Wansan, is well-known. It is said that your Shen family has become prosperous since your father's generation. Judging from your age, your father must be quite old too."

"Thank you for your concern, Marshal. My father is indeed old. He is now over 70 years old and is already 71 years old." Shen Rong was relieved when he heard Lu Jin chatting about family matters and did not ask any more questions about who the richest man was.

"You are over 70, which is considered a long life. Your father was once the richest man in his life, raised so many children, and saved up hundreds of thousands of acres of land. It can be said that his life was not in vain. How is your health now?"

When Shen Rong heard Lu Jin mention the land, sweat started to form on his forehead again, but he still said, "My father has been getting older and older in recent years. He has been bedridden for a long time. I don't know if he can recover. Otherwise, I would have come to pay a personal visit to the Marshal no matter what."

Lu Jin waved his hand, "Your father is already so old, don't bother him. Let's talk about your family. I heard that the Shen family has divided the households and land, and has been split into twelve households? Do you still live together after the division?"

Shen Rong's heart skipped a beat when he heard this, and he secretly said that it was not good, but he did not dare to say it, so he could only answer honestly, "In reply to the Marshal, it was divided into twelve households, and after the division, it is natural that they live separately."

As expected, what you fear will come true. Lu Jin mercilessly exposed it, "Aren't they still all in Suzhou Prefecture? What's the difference between them and not dividing the family? In my opinion, since the family has been divided, why not divide it more widely? How many families are there in the Shen family of your generation?"

Shen Rong wanted to cry, but he could only bite the bullet and said, "There are five of us, my brothers."

Lu Jin nodded, "Jiankang is a place of great talent and beauty, with many talented people. It has been a place of wealth and literature since ancient times. I think it would be a good idea for the Shen family to move here. What do you think?"

Shen Rong opened his mouth and his face suddenly turned pale. He still vividly remembered how Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty relocated rich families to guard the tomb. Could it be that the person in front of him would have to do the same?
Lu Jin ignored his reaction and continued, "Xuzhou has just experienced a war, and the people have fled everywhere. Only one in ten households in the city remains, and all industries are in decline. Merchants are needed to replenish the population and restore people's livelihood. The Shen family has a large population, so I think it would be a good idea to move one of them to Xuzhou.

"Luzhou was originally an important town in Jiangyou, with traffic from north to south and merchants gathering wealth. Unfortunately, since the fall of the Song Dynasty and the opening of the Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou by the Yuan invaders, Yangzhou has taken away the glory of Luzhou, causing it to be no longer as prosperous as it used to be. Merchants are needed to revive Luzhou's prosperity. Shouldn't the Shen family also send a household there?
"There are also Dadu and Liaodong, whose populations are also declining and in urgent need of replenishment."

"Commander!"

Shen Rong could no longer sit still, and he knelt down in front of Lu Jin with a plop. Seeing that the head of the Shen family had knelt down, the other younger generations of the Shen family did not dare to continue sitting, and they all knelt down on the ground.

Seeing this, Lu Jin's face suddenly turned serious and he scolded, "Why are you kneeling down all of a sudden? I just told you not to kneel down casually. Didn't you hear me?"

Shen Rong did not respond, but knelt there and looked up to argue, "General, Dadu and Liaodong are under the jurisdiction of the violent Yuan Dynasty. I am your people. How dare I betray my master and surrender to the enemy and go to the north?"

Lu Jin sneered and asked, "Why, do you think I can't take back Yanyun and Liaodong?"

Shen Rong's face suddenly turned pale, "I dare not"

"That's settled then. The Shen family will move three branches to Jiankang, Xuzhou and Luzhou first. The remaining two branches can be moved there after the Northern Expedition is successful." Lu Jin made the decision immediately.

Shen Rong was dumbfounded. He came here to seek a position, but how come his house was demolished in a few words before he even got it?
"Stand up! Don't make me say it a third time!"

"Yes." Shen Rong then stood up carefully, sat back in his chair and never dared to speak easily again.

However, Lu Jin was not going to let him go. This was a fat sheep that had come to his doorstep. How could he give up easily unless he squeezed every last drop of Shen's value out of him? So he asked again.

"People say that the Shen family is the richest in Jiangdong. I have seen many wealthy families. I am very curious about how much money it takes to be called the richest. Putting aside the hundreds of thousands of acres of land, how much gold, silver and copper coins does the Shen family have hidden in their cellars, if all of them are converted into silver, how much is it?"

"This..." Shen Rong was immediately speechless. It is said that wealth should not be exposed. How much money can be said casually? But seeing Lu Jin's tough attitude today, if he didn't say it, Lu Jin would probably send soldiers to search their house.
"Why, it's hard to say?" Seeing that he didn't speak, Lu Jin continued to press him.

Shen Rong hesitated for a while, and said hesitantly, "Only one million taels at most."

hiss--

Li Dingbang, who was standing guard at the door, couldn't help but gasp. One million taels of silver, how much money would that be? When he and his father fled to Luzhou for refuge, they almost starved to death on the way, and they only got to Luzhou by eating the relief provided by Lu Jin. And the Shen family asked for one million taels of silver, and it was "only one million taels". Is one million taels not enough? How unfair is the heaven? No wonder the commander-in-chief wants to discipline these powerful and wealthy people.

In an instant, the loyalty of this fourteen-year-old boy increased, and he felt that following Lu Jin to conquer the world was a particularly just thing to do.

When Lu Jin heard the number, he nodded slightly. He knew that Shen Rong was definitely not telling the truth. The Shen family's wealth was definitely more than one million taels, but Lu Jin didn't know the exact amount. However, he had not planned to take it all out. The chicken had to be kept to lay eggs slowly. He would not kill the chicken to get the eggs for the time being. After all, the Shen family still had value.

So he said, "One million taels is indeed a lot for ordinary people and merchants. It's not an exaggeration to call him the richest man. But to say that he is as rich as a country is a bit of a frame-up. The Marshal's Mansion earns tens of millions of taels a year from selling salt, and one million taels is only one tenth of it."

Shen Rong was so excited that he almost cried when he heard this. Fortunately, Lu Jin had seen the world, otherwise he would really think that his family was rich enough to rival a country. Who knows how he would deal with them next. So he quickly said, "General, you are wise! It is true that the Shen family has made some money, but no matter how arrogant they are, they dare not compare with the imperial court. Those are just the jealous words of ignorant people outside. Don't take them seriously."

"Haha." Lu Jin laughed immediately, "It's true that I'm not as rich as a country, but it's true that I'm the richest in a region.

"It is said that the Shen family is good at business. The Shen family is so wealthy, and my mansion is very short of money. If I ask you directly for it, it will seem that I am robbing you. How about we do business? I will sell some things to you, and you let me earn some money." Shen Rong wanted to vomit blood when he heard it. He just asked him how much silver he had, and now he said he wanted to do business with him. It was obvious that he had his eyes on his one million taels. He also said that he didn't want to rob him, but what priceless treasure could Lu Jin take out that was worth one million taels of silver?
Shen Rong suppressed his heartache and quickly expressed his position, "How dare a commoner do business with the Marshal? If the Marshal's Mansion is short of money, the Shen family is willing to donate to support the military expenses. This is by no means the Marshal's robbery, but our Shen family sincerely supports the Marshal. We only hope that the Marshal can pacify the world as soon as possible, so that our business can be better."

Lu Jin hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Then how much can you donate?"

Shen Rong also hesitated, and tentatively said a number, "Two hundred thousand taels, I don't know how much, Marshal..."

"Then let's talk about business." Lu Jin interrupted immediately.

Shen Rong was anxious, and quickly reported another number, "General, how about 500,000 taels? The world is in turmoil now, and my family has divided the property and donated the land. The business will not be able to be done in a short time. The Shen family must keep some capital for future business use."

"Tsk." Upon hearing this, Lu Jin immediately asked back, "Why don't you listen to what I plan to sell you? Do you really think I want to take it by force?"

"I dare not." Shen Rong immediately lost his temper.

"Dingbang, go get some pencils and notebooks."

"Yes."

Lu Jin picked up the tea bowl and took a sip of tea. After a while, Li Dingbang brought pencils and exercise books. These were a batch of pencils that he had asked craftsmen to make by hand. They were specially distributed to the trainees in the artillery class. But it was not a good idea to always ask craftsmen to make them by hand. It would be better to let private merchants produce this kind of civilian product in batches, so that the price could be lowered and it would be convenient for him to buy it directly.

When the item was delivered, Lu Jin asked him to hand it to Shen Rong, and then said, "This item is called a pencil, and it can be used for writing and drawing. I will sell you the production method and formula, and also a piece of land. You can build a factory to produce these pencils for sale. How about that? This is a good business."

Shen Rong was a little dumbfounded. He didn't expect that Lu Jin wanted to sell a business. He thought Lu Jin was going to force him to buy or sell some "treasure". However, when it came to doing business, the old businessman immediately got into the state. He picked up a pencil and drew on the notebook, then looked at it carefully for a moment before speaking.

"This writing brush has been around for a long time. Everyone in the world uses a brush. Why did you specially make a pencil? It seems to be made by splitting a piece of wood and sandwiching a charcoal stick in the middle. I wonder what the magical use of this pencil is?"

Lu Jin said immediately, "Pencil is a kind of hard pen, which is convenient for writing numbers and drawing. This pen can be used with a ruler to draw clear and straight lines. However, the brush is too soft and the ink is easy to smudge, so it is impossible to draw.

"I plan to promote arithmetic education in the future. All students in the world will need this product. And pencils are consumables, just like candles. One needs to be used up every few days. If you specialize in producing this product, it will not be a small business, and you will not have to worry about sales."

When Shen Rong heard that Lu Jin was going to promote the use of this pencil throughout the world, his eyes suddenly lit up. This way, he would not have to worry about selling it, so he immediately said, "If the Marshal promotes it throughout the world, there will naturally be no worries about sales. I wonder how much the Marshal is willing to pay for this pencil?"

"How about two hundred thousand taels?"

"General, I have to tell you the truth. The world is still in chaos. Even if this product can be sold nationwide in the future, I'm afraid we won't be able to sell many of it within one or two years. Moreover, once it becomes popular, other merchants will surely follow suit. It will be difficult to recover the cost with two hundred thousand taels." Shen Rong immediately started to negotiate business and was no longer as timid as before.

If you want money, I can donate it to you directly, but if you insist on discussing business, you can't let me suffer too much, right?
Lu Jin said, "I know it's not that easy to conquer the world. How about this, I'll give you the exclusive right to make pencils for fifteen years."

"Deal!" Shen Rong agreed immediately, as if he was afraid that Lu Jin would go back on his word.

But Lu Jin did not lose out. It would take at least three to five years to unify the country, and then train enough mathematics teachers, open schools in various places, and once the business was truly promoted, the Shen family would only be able to run the exclusive business for five years at most.

This time, without waiting for Lu Jin to speak first, Shen Rong took the initiative to ask, "Does the Marshal have any business to sell?"

"Yes, I've seen that people nowadays use bamboo baskets to collect and transport grain, and few use bags. But it's understandable. After all, cloth is precious, and ordinary people are reluctant to use cloth to make bags to carry grain. But the scarcity of bags makes it inconvenient to transport and store grain." Lu Jin immediately introduced the situation.

Shen Rong immediately reacted, "So the Marshal wants Xiaomin to be his pocket?"

"Yes, a loom that can produce 5,000 sacks a day, plus a piece of land for you to build a factory, for two hundred thousand taels!"

Shen Rong was stunned and asked hurriedly, "Are you serious, Marshal? Is there really such a loom in the world?"

"Don't you believe in me, Gongshu?" Lu Jin asked back.

Shen Rong hesitated for a moment. If Lu Jin wanted money, he could just ask him to donate it to support the military expenses. There was no need to go to so much trouble to trick him, so he chose to believe it.

"I trust you, Marshal, but I wonder if the sack business can be run exclusively by Shen?"

"That's impossible." Lu Jin refused immediately. "This sack is different from pencils. We can produce 5,000 a day, which means we can only make 2 million a year at best. What can we do with so few sacks? I will definitely sell them to other merchants."

Shen Rong hesitated for a moment, but finally agreed. Just like Lu Jin said, the market was huge anyway, and his family couldn't finish it all. So he said, "Then it's settled. I'm willing to take over the sack weaving business. Does the Marshal have other businesses to sell?"

"Of course there is." Lu Jin suggested, "I'll give you another piece of land. You can build an ironware factory, buy iron materials from the government-run Luzhou Ironworks, and then produce daily-use ironware, such as cast iron pots and other cooking utensils."

Shen Rong frowned, "It's just producing iron pots, and I can't mine and smelt iron myself. I'm afraid this is not worth two hundred thousand taels, right?"

Good guy, this time he quoted a price without waiting for Lu Jin to quote. However, Lu Jin was prepared. Of course, the iron pot alone was not worth this price, so Lu Jin said again.

"Shen has been traveling across the sea for many years. Have you ever heard of Persian enamelware?"

Shen Rong nodded immediately, "I've heard that I have enamelware from foreign countries in my home. It's made of copper, glazed, and fired in a kiln. The finished copper-based porcelain surface is very exquisite. Could it be that the Marshal wants me to produce enamel in this iron factory?"

Lu Jin nodded, "This business is definitely profitable, but it's not copper-based enamel, but iron-based enamel. Take the wash basins used by the people for example. Poor people mostly use wooden basins, while rich families use copper basins. Copper basins are relatively lighter and stronger, but they are very expensive. Wooden basins are heavy and easy to rot, and inconvenient to use.

"If we can use iron sheets instead of copper to make basins, the iron base is very easy to rust. But if we use this enamel technique to replace the copper base, apply porcelain glaze on the iron basin, and put it into the kiln for firing, we can make an enamel iron basin that will not rust, and is as light and strong as a copper basin. The price is also much cheaper than a copper basin. If such a good thing can be produced, are you still worried that it will not be sold?"

Shen Rong's eyes lit up when he heard this. After listening to Lu Jin's description, he knew that this enameled iron basin was indeed a good thing. If it could be produced, it would definitely sell well. So he hurriedly asked, "Does the Marshal have the manufacturing technology for this iron-based enamel?"

Lu Jin spread his hands in a very confused manner, "No, but since copper can be used to make enamel, why can't iron? I'm just giving you an idea. You can also start an iron factory and make and sell iron pots first. While selling iron pots, you can also try to make enameled iron basins. If you can experiment with the production technique yourself, I will give you five years of exclusive operating rights, also called a technical patent.

"Or I can have the craftsmen in the Ministry of Industry make a trial. If it succeeds, I will license the patent to you. Then you can use my method to produce iron basins. You have to pay me a patent fee for each one you produce. And it won't be an exclusive license. I will definitely sell it to others."

(End of this chapter)