Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 9: Establishment of Royal Industries and IPO

Zhu Houzhao had a rectangular mold made, and then had the eunuch press the yellow soapy substance into the rectangular mold box, because the rectangular mold box was engraved with "Royal Industry", "Palace Secret", and "Skin Soothing Cream".

Therefore, these three groups of words appear on the soap after it is pressed and solidified by a mold.

"Royal Industry" is the manufacturer.

"Secret recipe of the palace" is considered as the advertising slogan.

"Soothing Cream" is the brand name.

The eunuch Qiu Ju held the "soothing cream" soap and asked Zhu Houzhao with some doubt: "Your Majesty, can this really be sold for money?"

Luo Xiang standing by had the same doubts. He was in charge of the finances and procurement of the Leopard House. He was the only one who knew that the emperor had spent his last savings to make this soap, which he called "soothing cream". If it couldn't be sold, it would not only mean a waste of money, but also that the imperial treasury would have to be used in the end.

Zhu Houzhao asked Qiu Ju to call two palace maids to wash clothes, and both of them took the same dirty clothes and scrubbed them by the water, but one used soap and the other used soapnut paste used in the palace.

Qiu Ju and Luo Xiang watched helplessly as the clothes washed with soap were quickly cleaned by the maids. The clear water in the basin suddenly became turbid, while the clothes washed with soapnut paste were still dirty. The clear water was not too turbid, so the maids had to scrub them hard.

Qiu Juxian opened his mouth wide and said in amazement: "Your Majesty, this soothing cream is really amazing. We will definitely make money if we sell it!"

"Your Majesty, how did you come up with this idea? This thing can be made with lard, lime and alkaline noodles. It is much better than soapberry paste!" Luo Xiang was also amazed.

"What a joke! You can't guess how smart the emperor is. Your Majesty, I think we should sell this soothing cream right now! I did business before entering the palace, and I dare to ask your Majesty to allow me to be responsible for selling this soothing cream," Wei Bin suggested immediately.

Luo Xiang became unconvinced when he heard this. He thought that he was the one who ran around to purchase various materials, and now that he had finally made the treasure, Wei Bin snatched away the lucrative job. Isn't this intentionally trying to take advantage of others?

Qiu Ju became even angrier, thinking that he was the one who had to work the hardest. He had undoubtedly contributed the most to finding people to build the house and arranging for people to do this and that. How could he let Wei Bin take away the job of buying and selling? He hurriedly said, "Everyone can sell things. Your Majesty, you can't just favor Wei Bin!"

Zhu Houzhao didn't expect that before the soap was even put on sale, several eunuchs around him would start fighting over it. He could not help but hold back his hands:

"Be quiet! You are all my people, I will never favor one over another. I will give you wealth and honor when it is due to you. Now that the soothing cream and soap have been made, the benefits cannot be monopolized by one person, but should be shared by everyone. Go call Liu Jin, Zhang Yong and others, I need to hold a small meeting."

Soon, the eight tigers, Liu Jin, Zhang Yong, Ma Yongcheng, Gu Dayong, Gao Feng, Qiu Ju, Wei Bin and Luo Xiang, all stood in front of Zhu Houzhao.

"In theory, you are all my servants, and everything you have belongs to me. I don't need to share it with you. But this is the truth, but there is no reason to stop the horse from eating grass. You are all my confidants, and naturally no one should be left out of the good things. I have decided to establish the Royal Industrial Company, which specializes in the production and sale of royal industrial products!"

After Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, he handed a prospectus of the Royal Industrial Company to Liu Jin and the other eight tigers:

"Look, in the future the Royal Industrial Company will not only produce soap, but also glass, explosives and even medicines, etc., and these are all new things that the Ming Dynasty does not have now. It will definitely make a lot of money, so I will give you a chance to make money together;

This is the prospectus. I will take 60% of the profits, half of the profits will be distributed to the first batch of eunuchs in the Royal Industrial Experimental Base, 10% of the profits will be used for the operation of the Royal Industrial Company, half of the profits will be reserved for future distribution to partners, and the remaining 20% ​​will be divided among the eight of you. How to divide it depends on who invests more money. Whoever is willing to give the Royal Industrial Company how much money now will take that proportion of the profits. "

Zhu Houzhao believed that although he did not have much money, the eunuchs around him must not be short of money. After all, they were personal eunuchs who had followed him, the crown prince, for many years.

You have to know that in the Ming Dynasty, the crown prince had his own farm, and these farms were all managed by the eunuchs. In three years of the Qing government, Zhu Houzhao earned 100,000 silver taels. Although they were just eunuchs around him, they basically had their own land and shops outside, so it was not a big problem to take out tens of thousands of taels of silver. But Zhu Houzhao knew that if he wanted the Eight Tigers to follow him loyally, he couldn't just take away their money, but he could get them to invest!
Zhu Houzhao added, "I know you must still have some concerns, afraid of letting me know your wealth. Let me tell you in advance, no matter how rich you are, I will not be jealous. You have followed me for so many years, and these assets are my reward to you. Naturally, I will not ask you to return them. This time I asked you to divide the money into shares, not to take your money, but to let you make money with me. This is called investment, understand? If I can't make money, I can't control the government, and your wealth can't be preserved."

Liu Jin and others did not understand what the Royal Industrial Company was at first, but after reading the prospectus they understood a little and realized that it was similar to the game played by the big merchants. The Eight Tigers were not stupid people and knew that their Majesty Zhu Houzhao was indeed giving them the opportunity to become rich and powerful. Moreover, as Zhu Houzhao said, everything they had belonged to Zhu Houzhao, and Zhu Houzhao had also spoken, so naturally they dared not disobey.

Therefore, Liu Jin, who was indeed a little worried about letting Zhu Houzhao know about his family background, spoke first: "To be honest, I feel sorry for Your Majesty. Every morning, I see Your Majesty being so frugal that he only eats steamed buns and porridge. I feel very distressed. I originally planned to give money to Your Majesty, but I was afraid of making Your Majesty unhappy. Now that Your Majesty has said so, I will give you 5,000 taels. I just hope Your Majesty can use this money to eat more bird's nests or something like that!"

"You almost made me cry. What's the point of being filial? I said I would acknowledge that you own private property, and as the emperor, I will protect the safety of your private property. Eating steamed buns and drinking porridge is my own decision, and it has nothing to do with you. This money is an investment, so it is! I will not spend this money on pleasure, but on developing science and technology industries, on ways that can make us all money! I asked you to bring the hens, not to kill them for meat, but to lay eggs!"

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

"The eunuch offers eight thousand taels!"

Wei Bin was very optimistic about the "Soothing Cream" soap. After listening to Zhu Houzhao, although he didn't know what it meant to develop science and technology industry, he knew that the more money he made at this time, the more benefits he would get, so he was willing to suppress Liu Jin.

Qiu Ju was also optimistic about the profits of soap, and did not want to be lower than Wei Bin: "Then the eunuch will pay 10,000 taels!"

Liu Jin realized that this was not just a matter of paying money but also a time to show loyalty to His Majesty, so he hurriedly raised the price: "I'll pay another 10,000 taels!"

Zhang Yong also understood that this was the time to show his loyalty to Zhu Houzhao, and he shouted directly: "The eunuchs will also give 15,000 taels!"

Luo Xiang, Gu Dayong, Ma Yongcheng and Gao Feng were not willing to be left behind and kept raising the price.

At that moment, the Eight Tigers almost all staked their savings over the years. Zhu Houzhao counted them and found that they had more than 100,000 taels in total. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "It seems that you are really wealthy. You haven't even become eunuchs yet, but each of you has a fortune of at least 10,000 taels. On the contrary, I am the poorest."

"Your Majesty, what are you talking about? These were all rewards given to you by your Majesty when you were in the Eastern Palace. Otherwise, how could the eunuchs have so much silver?" Liu Jin said with an awkward smile.

The other "Eight Tigers" also nodded in agreement.

Zhu Houzhao did not delve into it and just said:

"Now I will divide the shares according to the proportion of the money you gave. Liu Jin will get the largest share, followed by Zhang Yong. However, you all have other important tasks. I still have to hand over the important tasks of the Royal Industrial Company to Qiu Ju, Luo Xiang, and Wei Bin. The three of you will stay by my side to manage the Royal Industrial Company. Qiu Ju will be responsible for production, Luo Xiang will be responsible for procurement, and Wei Bin will be responsible for sales. I will be in charge of recruiting people and money myself. At the end of the year, I will distribute dividends to you according to the proportion of your shares!"

The eight tigers no longer had any objections. After all, everyone shared the profits, and if anyone cheated, the losses would be borne by everyone.

Zhu Houzhao believed that the eight tigers would supervise each other. Qiu Ju would supervise Luo Xiang, who was responsible for purchasing, and Wei Bin, who was responsible for sales, for their own interests. Wei Bin would also supervise Qiu Ju and Luo Xiang, and Luo Xiang was naturally no exception. Liu Jin, Gu Dayong and others would not sit idly by and watch others damage the interests of the Royal Industrial Company and affect their own income.

In this way, Zhu Houzhao naturally does not have to worry about his own interests being damaged.

In addition, Zhu Houzhao also allocated salaries to all people involved in the management and production activities of the Royal Industrial Company. Whether they were eunuchs such as Qiu Ju or small eunuchs who just did odd jobs, they all received a minimum salary of one or two taels of silver a month, two meals and accommodation included.

At present, the Longwan Port has not yet been opened, and silver has not yet poured in in large quantities. A monthly salary of one or two taels of silver is already considered a high salary. Zhu Houzhao also established a commission system, that is, both front-line production workers and managers receive commissions, basically following the principle of whoever works more gets more. Therefore, everyone's enthusiasm is quite high.

(End of this chapter)