Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 301 Project Bidding Meeting

The Zhang brothers found pig manure, cow manure and sheep manure. They pinched their noses and mixed the three kinds of manure together.

Zhang Yanling asked uncertainly: "Brother, can these things really be made into fireworks if mixed together?"

Zhang Heling said: "The more impossible it is, the more unreasonable it is... Ugh..."

It stinks and hurts my eyes.

"Light it up." Zhang Heling signaled Zhang Yanling to light the mixed feces.

Zhang Yanling said, "It won't light up, big brother... Ugh, it stinks, can this really be used to make fireworks? Why don't I believe it?"

"Or we can go find the fireworks seller and ask for the recipe."

Zhang Heling said speechlessly: "Is he willing to tell you the formula?"

"If you don't tell me, I'll kill them."

Zhang Heling said: "Keep a low profile recently, don't let the emperor catch you, try again, hurry up and light the fire."

"If it really can't be lit, is Chen Ce lying to us?" Zhang Yanling said.

Zhang Heling rolled his eyes and said indignantly: "Go find him!"

……

Lun Wenxu was called away by Chen Ce and kept thanking Chen Ce. If Chen Ce had not helped him today, he might have lost face.

Chen Ce put aside past grudges and helped him out. His broad-mindedness made Lun Wenxu admire him.

"I'm not as good as you, Mr. Chen. I'm sorry, I'm not worthy of Miss Ning."

Chen Ce: "...What does this have to do with whether or not I am worthy of Miss Ning?"

"I just simply don't want to see the Jurchens trample on our culture. It has nothing to do with you."

"gone."

Chen Ce waved his hand and turned away.

As soon as I returned to the courtyard in Huaihua Hutong, I saw the Zhang brothers shaking their legs, leaning against the door frame, looking at Chen Ce like thugs.

"Did you lie to us? The formula you mentioned can't produce fireworks at all!"

Chen Ce hummed and said, "Can't it be manufactured? I thought it could be made, so forget it."

The Zhang brothers widened their eyes and asked, "You don't know either?"

Chen Ce: "? Why should I know?"

The Zhang brothers asked, "Then the formula you told us is nonsense, isn't it?"

Chen Ce nodded and said, "Yes, that's nonsense."

Zhang Heling was furious and said, "Okay! Chen Ce, you liar!"

Chen Ce: "And then?"

Zhang brothers: "..."

You are so arrogant! If the prince hadn’t backed you up, we would have beaten you to death!
……

The next morning, Zhu Houzhao brought Liu Jin to find Chen Ce in a hurry, and pulled Chen Ce out.

Chen Ce asked curiously: "What's wrong? What happened?"

Zhu Houzhao said: "It will be exciting to watch."

Chen Ce: “Ah?”

Zhu Houzhao said: "This afternoon, the Engineering Department of Shuntian Prefecture is recruiting engineering contractors in the government office, and many businessmen will participate."

"Little brother, you don't know what a project bidding is, right? I only found out about it this morning."

"The Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue have handed over the construction project of renovating Shuntian Gongyuan to private merchants."

"This is the first time this has happened. I don't know how lively it will be today. Let's go and see what the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Revenue are up to."

Obviously, Zhu Houzhao didn't know that it was Chen Ce who informed the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue. He could only helplessly follow Zhu Houzhao to Shuntian Prefecture.

On the way, Zhu Houzhao asked Liu Jin to buy a newspaper, and soon they arrived at Shuntian Prefecture.

It was not difficult for Zhu Houzhao to enter Shuntian Prefecture. Today, Shuntian Prefecture is under very strict jurisdiction. Merchants who do not have invitation letters from the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Works are not qualified to enter.

The bidding meeting would not start until the afternoon, so Chen Ce and Zhu Houzhao had obviously arrived early. But even so, the courtyard of Shuntianfu Engineering School was already crowded with merchants.

Obviously, the bidding meeting held by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households attracted the interest of many businessmen.

Liu Jin found a stone bench and invited Zhu Houzhao and Chen Ce to sit over.

Zhu Houzhao was reading this morning's newspaper with relish, while Liu Jin went out to buy breakfast.

"hiss!"

Zhu Houzhao's eyes widened. After seeing the wonderful game of pairs between the Han people and the Jurchens beside the Tongji Canal last night, he couldn't help but be very excited and said excitedly: "Who is this person? He can actually come up with such a wonderful pair!"

"In this environment, with so many eyes watching, he came up with such a wonderful couplet and won the applause of the whole room. It's exciting to think about it. What a pity, what a pity, I was not there... My little brother, the Tongji Canal is not far from your home, did you go to watch the fun?"

Chen Ce nodded and said, "Yes, I went."

Zhu Houzhao said excitedly: "Tell me about it quickly."

Chen Ce thought for a moment and said, "There's nothing much to say. It's just a pair. I'll leave after I finish it."

"It's that simple... Uh? What did you say? You're the one who came up with the pair?"

Chen Ce: "Is it worth making such a fuss? Are they a great couple?"

Zhu Houzhao: "..."

I won’t tell you whether the pair is great or not, but you must have been very pretentious last night!
I even feel like you are still pretending in front of me!
On the second floor attic of the Engineering Department.

Emperor Hongzhi's face twitched slightly. Qin Hong and Xu Guan also noticed Chen Ce and Zhu Houzhao, who was eating a meat bun with oil drooling next to Chen Ce.

The prince is here too.

However, with such a bustle, it didn't seem strange for the prince to come.

As for Chen Ce, this was a commercial tender proposed by Chen Ce, so it was normal for him to come.

Minister Qin and Minister Xu glanced at Emperor Hongzhi. Emperor Hongzhi pretended not to see Zhu Houzhao and said calmly, "I didn't expect so many merchants would come here today."

I just don't know how much money the private businessmen will win this bidding.

Time passed minute by minute. After lunch, the bidding meeting officially began and many businessmen could not wait.

The clerk of the Engineering Department of Shuntian Prefecture began to preside over the meeting, and a chief official from the Ministry of Works was responsible for supervision.

With the opening of the Shuntian Prefecture Engineering Department, the bidding meeting officially began. The renovation of the Peking Imperial Examination Hall was not complicated, it was just a simple engineering project. Businessmen began to seal up their budget prices and submit them to the clerk of the Shuntian Prefecture Engineering Department.

Next is waiting.

Rolls of sealed files were constantly sent to the cabinet on the second floor, and the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture was not even allowed to enter this room.

The two ministers of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works opened the merchants' quotations and read them aloud to Emperor Hongzhi.

"Wu Zhengcai, a merchant from Baoding, offered a price of 130,000 taels." When the Minister of Works Xu Guan opened his mouth and saw the price offered by the first merchant, his face twitched slightly.

It was obvious that the prices quoted by this group of private businessmen were far lower than the budget of his Ministry of Industry!
Emperor Hongzhi did not speak, his face was calm and he said nothing.

Minister of Revenue Qin Hong continued: "The merchant from Dingzhou offered a price of 121,000 taels."

Xu Guan opened another file: "The merchant in Tongzhou offered a price of 111,000 taels."

"The merchant from Daxing offered one hundred and five thousand taels."

"One hundred thousand taels."

"Ninety-eight thousand taels."

"Ninety-seven thousand taels..."

(End of this chapter)