I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 230 Prelude
The Ming Dynasty’s apparent commercial tax rate is very low, but the implicit tax rate is not low.

Therefore, such a road is a fatal temptation to businessmen, and many businessmen want to invest in railways.

The reason why Zhu Houxuan opened up the railway to investment was for the health of the Ming Royal Group's working capital.

Railway is an asset-heavy industry, which is characterized by large investment and long payback period. It takes about five to six years to get back the investment and then to see profit.

Building too many railways will really affect the liquidity of the group. Although Zhu Houxuan controls the Ming Royal Group, the money is not his, and he is really prepared to pay back the principal and interest.
At this time, the Ministry of Railways purchased rails from Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant, which was actually just transferring the group's funds from one hand to the other. Although there was profit, it was only profit on paper and it would take a long time to see the profit.

But things are different after the opening up for investment. With the injection of investment funds, the investment direction is equivalent to purchasing rails from Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant to build railways. This is equivalent to opening up the steel plant's sales channels, allowing the steel plant to see profits immediately and greatly reducing the collection cycle.

Businessmen can also help solve land acquisition issues when building railways.

In fact, for Zhu Houxuan, he did not value the profits brought by the railway. What he cared about was the existence of the railway. With the railway, the circulation cost of Ming Dynasty goods could be greatly reduced.

Moreover, the more railways are built, the greater the benefits the Ming Royal Group will gain.

As for the issue of control, Zhu Houxuan was not worried at all. Anyway, these railways would definitely be nationalized for a fee at some appropriate time.

What also interests businessmen is the financial services that Ming Royal Group can provide.

The Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty had too great an advantage in finance. Although Zhu Houxuan regarded it as the central bank of the Ming Dynasty, he also hoped that it could play the role of a commercial bank and provide some financial services.

During this year's development, the Ming Royal Bank also established branches in the capitals of the thirteen provinces. Although the development situations varied greatly, a nationwide financial network had taken shape. It was also the first national financial enterprise in the Ming Dynasty.

The most important thing for a financial enterprise is the confidence of its customers, and the new version of silver coins with Zhu Houzhao's portrait recently issued by the Ming Royal Bank has further enhanced this confidence.

As for the various products under the group, they have attracted the attention of many businessmen. The flow of various business information in Daming is still too slow. This conference is equivalent to a nationwide publicity for the products under the group. After the conference, many businessmen stayed to discuss cooperation with Daming Royal Group.

Many factories under the Ming Royal Group have received a large number of orders.

After the conference, the Propaganda Department of the Ming Royal Group launched the Ming Royal Business Daily, which was published every two days. Its main content was information on court affairs, local business information, commercial advertisements, story series, etc. It was very popular after its launch, and the Propaganda Department had to increase its circulation again and again.

After the businessmen's conference, the Royal Theatre was finally opened to the public. The people in Beijing were extremely curious about the Royal Theatre, and the series "The Inspector General of the Song Dynasty" rehearsed by the Propaganda Department finally started selling tickets to the public. For a time, tickets were hard to come by in Beijing.

Although the people of the Ming Dynasty did not like the Song Dynasty and were not very interested in the Chief Justice, they were very curious about the Grand Theater.

Finally, the premiere of the first episode of "The Inspector General of the Song Dynasty" began. The Royal Theatre was packed, and the boxes on both sides were booked early. I don't know how many dignitaries were sitting in them.

While the audience was amazed at the architecture of the Royal Theatre, the show started on stage. The plot of the first episode caught the attention of all the audience in a short time.
——The first episode briefly introduces the characters. On the day of Song Ci's wedding, the auspicious time has arrived and the bridal sedan is waiting for her. However, her father, who is the Magistrate of Jiazhou, has not returned yet, so she has to welcome the bride into the mansion first. As the couple is performing the three bows, a carriage arrives in the rain, and the carriage is carrying the body of Song's father.
All this took only 5 minutes. The plot progressed so fast and the impact was so great that the unworldly people were stunned. This was too exciting, and then they were aroused with endless curiosity.
——Song Ci found out from his father's remains that his father died of poisoning, so he asked the old family. The old family had to present Song's father's suicide note: It turned out that Song Gong, who had never made a wrong judgment in the prison for forty years, committed suicide by taking poison to apologize for his mistake. Song Ci's father's suicide note left a will for his son that he should "never get involved in the prison for life". Song Ci, who had aspired to inherit his father's career since he was a child, became disheartened and drank all day to drown his sorrows.
The audience was deeply involved in this segment. This is a typical Chinese father-son relationship. The cause of Song's father's death is known, but it seems to involve a bigger mystery. Everyone was watching it and dared not breathe, for fear of missing out on some important plot.
——Song Ci cheered up with the encouragement of his mother and good friends. Coincidentally, a new murder occurred in the county where his father died. Song Ci resolutely rushed to investigate the case. In the process, he used various criminal investigation knowledge to solve problems one by one and found out the truth. He shocked the court and the public, and was promoted to the sixth rank of the Dali Temple. The first episode ends.

The audience was reluctant to leave after watching the show. They were all immersed in the plot. The ending song touched people's hearts. The story was so gripping that no one dared to leave during the more than one-hour performance.
In short, "The Inspector General of the Song Dynasty" was extremely popular in the capital, and the Royal Theater arranged to perform one episode for seven days, with one show in the morning and one in the afternoon every day, and a new episode would be performed after seven days.

Everyone can find something they like in Song Ci's stories.

At one time, many people began to study Song Ci, a person who was not well-known in history. The "Da Ming Royal Business News" wrote an article in the latest issue of the newspaper listing Song Ci's life.
Everyone was surprised to find that Song Ci was actually a disciple of Zhu Xi's disciple, and that his book "Xi Yuanlu" is still in use today, which further increased the sense of immersion and popularity of the new drama.

The Ming Royal Business News then invited various celebrities in the capital to write their impressions of "The Inspector General of the Song Dynasty", which set off a trend and the newspaper was reprinted again and again but the demand could not meet the demand.

The ticket prices of the Royal Theatre were driven up to the sky, and the introduction of private rooms greatly increased privacy. It was especially friendly to people of noble status and women, which made it even more popular.

As far as Zhu Houxuan knew, Zhu Houzhao watched every episode several times, and even Empress Dowager Zhang secretly went to the Grand Theater to watch the show.
However, the peacefulness of the capital had nothing to do with Zou Hai from the Nanbao Salt Field. He was wearing a straw hat and gathering the coarse salt from the salt field under the scorching sun. He took a breath, straightened up and looked at the white salt mountains in the distance, feeling full of strength.
Everyone has been waiting for a long time. After returning to my hometown, I found that the daytime time is not completely controlled by myself. It is better to spend it at night.
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(End of this chapter)