The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 92 Oh! I hit!
The Jockey Club was finally built.

On the opening day, invitations were distributed 24 times, inviting all the friends who could be invited, in an effort to make the Jockey Club a successful start.

But the main force is still on Prince Zhongshun's side. All officials and dignitaries belonging to the current emperor's faction, whether they are free or not, will take time out to meet him.

The scene was really crowded with people and traffic. The carriages and sedan chairs in front of the Jockey Club formed a long queue, and it was extremely congested.

If the exhibition had not been well prepared, with ten lanes built in advance, the flow of people dispersed after the Jockey Club entrance, and four centralized parking spots prepared, it would have been impossible to evacuate so many people by night.

With so many wealthy people coming to support, ordinary people don't need to do any publicity; they will naturally come and join in the fun.

Because the address is close to the capital, even ordinary people can get here by walking for a while.

There has been a constant flow of people since early morning.

Those who were powerful were invited into the VIP room, where Prince Zhongshun and a group of people entertained them according to their ranks. Ordinary merchants and wealthy people were taken care of by Zhan Twenty-four.

As for the ordinary people, Xue Pan, his steward Wu Sihai, Yang Yougong and others were leading them.

Because there were no such things as loudspeakers these days, any speeches by leaders were strictly limited to the powerful and wealthy. Ordinary people couldn't hear them at all, and didn't care.

Accompanied by the roar of hundreds of thousands of firecrackers, the Jockey Club officially opened for business.

As soon as the gates of the racecourse and polo field opened, tens of thousands of people rushed in.

Under Zhan Ershi's persuasion, these games are free to watch, there is no need to make money from ticket fees, and all expenses can be made up from other aspects.

In the audience, hundreds of servants in uniform clothes, carrying backpacks filled with fixed-quota horse racing tickets that had been printed long ago, were moving back and forth among the crowd. Ordinary people who wanted to buy horse racing tickets only had to wave their hands at them, and someone would come running over. The amounts were ten cents, a hundred cents, all in round numbers, and no change would be given.

On-site transaction, payment and goods are settled.

In addition to those selling horse racing tickets, there were also salesmen wearing clothes of different colors, pushing carts loaded with melon seeds, peanuts, roasted sweet potatoes, herbal tea and the like, and hawking their wares in the spacious aisles.

In those days, when using silver, you have to use a small scale to weigh it, and if there is too much, you have to cut it with scissors. It is not as convenient as copper coins, so only copper coins are accepted in the audience seats, no silver.

If you find it inconvenient, you can spend some money to go to the VIP room upstairs, where you will not only be provided with finer tea and snacks, but even if you want to buy some horse racing tickets, there will be special people to serve you.

Outside the stadium, people who are not interested in horse racing, polo and other games wander around the Jockey Club, looking at the dazzling array of merchants and the full range of supporting facilities. Whether it's drinking tea, playing chess, listening to books, or juggling and performing arts, they can always find something they like.

The most important thing is that these are all free!

No tickets required!

If you don’t want to spend money, you don’t have to spend a penny and just queue up!
However, there are many counters in this free venue, all built by the Jockey Club, selling souvenirs.

For example, opera singers sell masks, brocade handkerchiefs and the like, while jugglers sell magic props and nine-ring toys. These are a little more expensive than those sold outside, but they are exquisitely made and have distinct features. They are great as souvenirs or as gifts for relatives or children.

But the most popular one is actually the lottery station.

Because welfare lottery takes too long to show results, it is not conducive to building initial popularity and controlling the profit ratio, so Zhan 24 prepared instant draw-type games for lottery stations.

One cent per ticket, buy on site, and the prize will be drawn on site.

What we want is a fast word!
All lotteries are prepared in advance. The number of winning tickets in a book and the total amount are all calculated, so you are absolutely guaranteed to make a profit.

And because it has just opened, the winning rate is very high, which is to encourage participation.

When the Jockey Club gets on the right track in the future and more and more people come to buy lottery tickets, this ratio can be secretly reduced and the profits can be reaped slowly.

If there are fewer people buying, they will concoct a few big prizes to attract more lottery players.

Of course, things like babysitting are inevitable. After all, a small prize is fine, but if the big prize falls into the hands of an outsider, wouldn’t it be a loss?

"Hey! I won! The grand prize of ten taels of silver!"

Xing Zhongjia shouted loudly, waving the lottery ticket in his hand, and squeezed forward from the back of the crowd. His old face was full of ecstasy, which made Zhan Ershisi feel that there was something fishy about not giving her the Best Supporting Actress award.

"Auntie, don't push forward. This is where we sell lottery tickets. Walk over there. Five hundred steps away is the place where you can redeem your prizes. It's the place with the red ribbon hanging on it!"

Yang Yougong acted as if he didn't know the man. He waved his arms, gestured, and shouted to maintain order.

There is a basket next to the lottery point. If you open it and find that you haven't won a prize, you can throw it in. Littering is not allowed. Violators will be caught and fined.

Amid the envious and jealous gazes of the crowd, Xing Zhongjia stopped, turned around and squeezed out of the crowd again, holding the lottery ticket that won the ten taels of silver grand prize tightly in his hand, and raised it high above his head, fearing that someone else would snatch it away.

Mr. Zhan had told her in advance that if someone tried to snatch the ticket, she should tear it up, and the damaged ticket could not be redeemed for the prize.

Xing Zhongjia waved the lottery ticket in front of the crowd so that people around could clearly see the pattern drawn on it.

Taking into consideration that not many people can read, there is no word printed on the exhibition 24. Instead, circles and triangles are used for judgment.

All lottery tickets are square pieces of cardboard with a nine-square grid drawn on it. Each grid has a pattern inside, either a circle or a triangle. Different combinations correspond to different prizes.

After it was done, a thin layer of wax was brushed on the pattern to cover the pattern inside. The pattern can only be seen after it is peeled off.

The printing technology was relatively poor back then, and the cost of the lottery ticket itself was more than three or five cents. Selling it for one cent was a pure loss.

But the wool comes from the sheep, so the lottery sellers won’t lose money anyway.

Moreover, whether the lottery ticket wins or not, it can be taken back, re-waxed and continued to be used.

The corresponding number is printed on the back of the lottery ticket to prevent counterfeiting.

If there is consistency between the beginning and the end, then it is true; otherwise, it is false.

Of course, this is what is said to the outside world. In fact, this is the case for ordinary awards, and the real grand prizes are controlled by insiders. Only insiders know whether they have been sold or not.

If someone comes to claim the grand prize and it's not one of yours, then the ticket must be fake, and it doesn't matter even if the number is correct.

This will definitely not happen on the first day, but it will happen sooner or later.

Zhan Ershisi has already instructed that the prize redemption must be prompt and without hesitation, and then he sent someone to keep an eye on the person redeeming the prize to see who is behind it.

The crowd who were watching the fun followed Xing Zhong's family to the lottery redemption point nearby and saw with their own eyes that she successfully exchanged ten taels of silver. Only then did they truly believe that this thing was not a scam.

Especially since the exchange of silver was very fast and smooth, and no one made things difficult or demanded bribes, nor did anyone ask for taxes or donations to any organization. This made everyone excited, and they all turned back to try their luck.

Then the people around saw the person who bought the lottery ticket, and soon they started cheering one after another.

"I won too! Thirty cents!"

"I don't have as much as you do. I only have five cents!"

"Damn it, why am I so unlucky? I bought ten tickets, but I didn't win any!"

"Haha... you only bought ten tickets, what's the use! Grandpa, I bought a hundred tickets at once! I must win ten taels of silver today!"

"Then I'll buy a hundred too!"

"Let's go together. Ten taels is a big prize, but it's hard to get. I'm not greedy, I'll be satisfied with two or three taels."

People are all lambs, and when they are led by the water army hidden in the crowd, they immediately buy lottery tickets blindly.

The Chinese people all like it to be lively, and seeing that there are so many people here, they are more willing to gather here, and soon the lottery spot is full.

However, Exhibition 24 had already prepared for this. It had built a small square in the front for people to gather in groups, and added ten seats at the ticket office to prevent those who were waiting at the back from giving up and leaving because they couldn't get in for a long time.

Then have someone prepare some snacks and tea to sell in the small square, which can not only attract crowds but also make some money.

"Hey, Yougong, you keep an eye on this side. If there are fewer people, reduce a few ticket booths. Make sure to keep rushing to buy tickets."

"As for those who won the big prize, you can also release them at the appropriate time. You can decide the specific time yourself. Anyway, this enthusiasm cannot be extinguished. Do you understand?"

"Don't worry, sir. I know what to do."

Yang Yougong was also very excited. He didn't expect that lottery could make so much money. Even robbery couldn't make money that fast!

But ordinary people can't play with this thing at all. Without the support of the master, whoever plays it will die.

Compared to the racecourse, lottery is the real money-making tool, so Zhan Ershisi specifically left his guests behind and ran over to watch over it personally, for fear that something would go wrong here.

Now that everything is going well, we just need to follow the steps.

As long as there are no problems with prize redemption, this lottery station will be successful.

After he left the lottery station, he went to the security office.

Who knows how much money flows through this Jockey Club every day, and who knows how many important people spend their time here, so safety work is of utmost importance.

There were no cameras these days. If any customer was secretly hit with a stick and robbed, not many people would be willing to come to the Jockey Club.

Even if you are not a noble person, even if you are an ordinary citizen, you probably don’t want to be robbed and blackmailed by gangsters after winning the lottery.

However, this Jockey Club is a private venue and it is impossible for soldiers or government officials to be stationed there, so it is necessary to build its own security force.

Originally, according to Prince Zhongshun's idea, it would be enough to select some servants from each household to carry out daily patrols. However, Zhan Twenty-four had some ideas about this armed force, so he did not allow him to select acquaintances from each household on the grounds of worrying about collusion between internal and external forces. Instead, he cooperated directly with the Zhan Family Escort Agency and hired the Zhan Family Escort Agency to be responsible for the security of the Jockey Club.

Prince Zhongshun only thought that Zhan Ershisi wanted to make a fortune from it, so with the idea of ​​rewarding him, he gave him this unfamiliar business.

In his opinion, the so-called security station is nothing more than a group of patrolling servants. What use are they?
When work really needed to be done, he could call in the three shifts of yamen runners from Shuntian Prefecture with just a single shot.

Anyway, servants of each family have to be paid monthly wages for doing work, so it would be better to save some trouble and just hand it over to the Zhan Family Escort Agency.

Then Master Zhan brought in all those people who had been brought down from the mountain and scattered around the city to gather information, and suddenly they became bodyguards in the escort agency.

He did not mobilize the remaining people on the mountains outside the city. After all, one has to do things with both hands, and both hands must be strong.

Black and white must be all!

The Zhan Family Escort Agency no longer accepts escorts from other places. It is only responsible for the transportation of silver and money in the Jockey Club, the escort of lottery winners, the security of various shops, etc. Any local hooligans who dare to come in and cause trouble will be dragged out and beaten up. If anyone dares to do it again, they will disappear from the face of the earth.

As for those merchants who do not need the escort of the escort agency, they cannot blame others if anything happens in the future.

Of course, nothing will happen inside the Jockey Club, but it’s hard to say what will happen outside the Jockey Club.

Nowadays, there are so many floods and droughts in various places, and refugees are everywhere. Maybe some thieves have fled from other places to the vicinity of the capital.

After a tour of the security station, I dealt with all those guys who sneaked in to take advantage of the situation, and also asked about the order status.

Of course, no business.

After all, the Zhan Family Escort Agency had just opened and had not achieved much success. A normal business would rather trust its own employees than randomly hire outsiders to help escort gold and silver goods.

Eat one bite at a time, do things one step at a time, don't be in a hurry, take your time.

Just by looking at the news coming from all over the world today, one can tell that the world is not far from chaos.

After suffering a few losses, people will naturally learn a lesson.

After a day of fun, when it gets dark, the racecourse begins to close and special people go in to wash the horses, tidy up the venue, and clean up the garbage, preparing again for tomorrow's horse racing.

The trash cans placed in various places are also cleaned by special cleaning staff.

These dirty and tiring jobs are basically done by recruiting honest and simple-minded people among the refugees. If you keep the job and give them some money, many people will be willing to come.

Seeing that the free activities were no longer available, ordinary people began to return home one after another, but the nightlife in the Jockey Club had just begun.

When the exhibition was first designed, the entertainment venues were put together to form several prosperous entertainment streets. The brothels, restaurants and gambling houses each occupied a long street, one next to the other, with flags flying and colorful lights hanging high, making the streets look like daylight.

Shops selling rouge, powder, pearls and jade are sandwiched between various entertainment venues. They remain open at night and serve the people who come for fun.

Those who are still in the Jockey Club at this time are mostly not poor. Whether they go directly to the brothel to listen to music, go to the gambling house to play a few rounds of Pai Gow, or take the girl out to play and shop elsewhere is all up to the rich businessmen and VIPs to choose.

Zhan Ershisi did not participate in these vulgar entertainment activities. Instead, he gathered all the relevant personnel of the Jockey Club and started to count the money to see how much money they had earned that day.

What can be counted at the moment are only the sales of lottery tickets, horse racing tickets, and various consumption at the counters built inside the racecourse. As for the sales of restaurants, shops, gambling houses, brothels, etc. owned by various powerful officials, they all belong to each company and are not something the Jockey Club can know.

But even these things alone were enough to astonish the people present.

When everyone saw baskets of copper coins being brought into the hall and piled up like a mountain, everyone's breathing became rapid.

Everyone knows that these are small fry, and the real big fry are the shops.

Since the small head has so many copper coins, how many will the big head have?

Zhan Nianshisi did not need to do the specific statistical work. He only needed to sit aside with the trusted butler sent by Prince Zhongshun, drink tea and chat, and wait for everyone to finish the statistics and then tell him the results.

After counting for nearly half an hour, Yang Yougong finally came over with an account book.

"Sir, the total is 7,466,246 copper coins, plus 1,922.8 taels of silver."

"The specific details are in this account book. Please check it."

Zhan Ershisi had expected this and was not too surprised, but the butler next to him gasped.

"Hiss... This must be almost 10,000 taels of silver!"

"But there is only one day, how can there be so many?"

Zhan 24 said with a smile:

"In fact, if the housekeeper calculates carefully, he will know that it is not much."

"Each of our stadiums can accommodate tens of thousands of people. Although none of them are full, roughly speaking, the number of people today should be at least 30,000 to 50,000, right?"

"Although they are just ordinary people, since they are out to have fun, they must eat and drink."

"The food in restaurants is so expensive, how can they afford to eat there? They will probably just buy some from the carts in our horse farm and eat a few bites. If they like wine, they might even buy a few cups of sweet potato wine."

"Our lottery station is surrounded by people today. Most people who pass by there will not give up the opportunity to try their luck."

"If someone wins the lottery, they will probably turn around and invest all the winnings back. It's normal to spend an extra hundred or eighty cents."

"If you have some spare money, you can go around the various areas of the racecourse and spend a few more taels if you see something nice or interesting on the counter and want to bring something back home as a souvenir for your friends and family."

"Ten thousand taels of silver is a lot, but if you calculate it equally, each person spends less than two hundred coins, which is really not much."

"Besides, the cost hasn't been deducted yet!"

“Although it’s mainly labor costs, some food, drinks, souvenirs and other things still need to be taken into account.”

"The final net profit will be four or five thousand taels, which would be good."

"Besides, today is the first day, so there will be more people coming. There won't be so many in the future, so we need to organize more activities to attract more people!"

"The most important thing for a Jockey Club is the flow of people. As long as we keep the flow of people stable, every day will be as lively as a market, and money will flow in like water."

"From now on, the main income of the Jockey Club should be horse tickets and lottery tickets. The real bulk of the income will still come from those shops, but they all belong to each store, so let's not worry about it."

"I estimate that the net profit that actually belongs to our Jockey Club is at most one million taels a year."

After hearing this, the palace steward was dumbfounded and shouted:
"One million taels of net profit per year, do you think it's too little? How much does the national treasury earn each year?"

Zhan Ershisi smiled disapprovingly and reminded:
"Butler, don't forget to remind the prince that the tax revenue from various shops is the biggest purpose of our horse club. Don't forget this."

After hearing this, the palace steward patted his chest and said:
"This horse race is in our hands. If anyone dares not to pay taxes, we will kick him out of the shop and replace him with someone else."

"Who would be willing to give up such a place where you can make a fortune every day?"

After he finished speaking, he looked at Zhan Ershisi with complicated eyes and bowed:
"Sir, you are truly a man of great talent. You have created an industry of this scale so easily. Once the revenue scale is reported to the palace, you will be favored by the emperor and your future success is just around the corner!"

"Then I'll accept your good words!" Zhan Ershisi also bowed in return.

The next day, the Jockey Club opened as usual.

Zhan Ershisi originally thought that after what happened yesterday, the number of people would decrease, but he found that there was still a lot of traffic in front of the Jockey Club.

There were fewer nobles who were invited to attend the event because of personal connections, but there were more ordinary people.

The entertainment industry is in decline these days and there is nothing fun to do.

Almost all fun things cost money, such as listening to operas, juggling, storytelling, etc., which all require tickets.

Even if you don't need a ticket, you still need a pot of tea when you go to a teahouse to listen to a story, right?
That's the same as the ticket!

But none of the performances at this Jockey Club require tickets!
The performance troupes here all have long-term contracts with the Jockey Club, receive monthly salaries and bonuses, and earn dividends from counter sales.

The greater the flow of people, the higher the dividends they get, so they don’t care about the ticket money and they perform very hard.

This makes all the people who come in to watch very satisfied and the word of mouth is very good. After returning home in the evening, they will inevitably tell their neighbors about what they saw and heard that day.

Those who have gone out for fun will definitely talk about the exciting and memorable things after returning home.

For example, how good the opera was, how fire came out of the juggler's mouth could reach five feet high, I bought a lottery ticket and won twenty cents... and so on.

So people spread the word to each other, and everyone knew that there really was a place where people could play for free. Out of curiosity, they couldn't help but want to come and take a look.

Those who have played before and have nothing to do will definitely want to come again, so they bring their families along.

As a result, the number of people coming to play the next day not only did not decrease, but there were even more.

There are millions of people in this capital city. Even if only one percent of them come here every day, there will still be a flow of 10,000 people.

And with the flow of people, there will definitely be impulse consumption.

Ordinary people don’t know this and always think, since I’m not paying, can you still pin me down and search my pockets?

Mr. Zhan would definitely not search other people's pockets, but when those naughty kids see good things, especially those that other children have, they will cry and make a fuss and search their parents' pockets.

Chinese people have always been tolerant towards their children. Unless they are really short of money, they will definitely spend a lot of money here.

As long as someone pays, it will often encourage other people around them to spend as well, and the money will be spent unknowingly.

At the beginning of the design, Zhan 24 pushed out all the high-consumption businesses and gave them to various officials and new nobles, leaving only the low-level consumption in the Jockey Club.

These businesses are all about small profits but quick turnover. They may seem insignificant, and the powerful and wealthy are too lazy to touch them. But when the flow of people increases, the profits are still quite considerable.

Most importantly, stability!
We can sell more than a thousand roasted sweet potatoes every day.

We can sell several barrels of herbal tea every day.

Even those dozens of public toilets charge one cent per use, and can collect dozens of taels of silver in a day.

However, later on, Zhan 24 discovered that many people urinated and defecated everywhere in order to save money, and it was impossible to catch them. As they were all poor, fines were useless. For the sake of the overall sanitary environment, the toilet charging service was cancelled and it was changed to free use.

Taking into account the fact that many newcomers came to the Jockey Club to play, Zhan 24 had the lottery outlet "explode" several big prizes, and deliberately chose a family that was not a childcare agent to let them win the prize.

This is a big family, with a lot of men and women, young and old, at least twenty people, and it seems like three generations living together.

These many people, including aunts-in-law and sisters-in-law, are involved in several families. There is no need to worry that after winning the prize, they will make a fortune quietly without telling anyone, thus reducing the publicity effect.

Just by looking at their clothes, you can tell they are ordinary farmers. It is impossible that they took the bonus and then had it robbed away and were all killed to silence them.

It is also impossible for someone to win the lottery and spend all the money happily by himself, and then pretend that he did not win.

Most likely, the ten taels of silver prize money would become the family's common savings, or be used to buy a large animal or something.

Sure enough, after the winner opened the ticket, he stood there in a daze, as if he couldn't believe it. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the lottery ticket over and over again.

"Second brother, what are you doing?"

The old man at the front frowned and lectured his son:
"I told you that buying this stuff is unnecessary. We are not destined to have that kind of thing. Farming honestly is better than anything else!"

The simple and honest man was scolded by his father, and he didn't know how to talk back. He just shook the lottery ticket in his hand and said in a trembling voice:
"Dad~"

"Nine circles..."

"He can have as many as he wants!" The old man hadn't reacted yet and was still shouting with his neck stiffened.

The passers-by nearby heard it, and came over immediately, shouting in unison:

"That's a winner!"

"Nine circles is the biggest prize!"

"Ten taels of silver!"

"Oh, it's really nine circles!"

“He really hit it!”

After hearing the shouting, all the people around immediately rushed over here, wanting to watch the fun and share in the joy.

The old man panicked, waved his hands hastily, and shouted:
"Boss, protect your brother quickly, don't let anyone snatch him away!"

Those relatives immediately rushed up, both men and women, with a fierce attitude, and surrounded the brother who won the prize.

The security guards nearby came up with sticks in their hands and shouted:

"No robbery!"

"There are people watching over the place. Everyone, get out of the way and let them claim their prizes!"

The crowd then retreated in disappointment, but still refused to leave. They just followed everyone else to the prize redemption point, their eyes red with envy.

"See? One penny for ten taels of silver. That's good luck!"

"I think I won two or three big prizes yesterday, and this is the fourth one today. It seems like there are too many big prizes today!"

"What are you talking about? Go buy it now!"

Encouraged by the atmosphere group, everyone got excited and rushed to scratch the lottery tickets.

Thanks to these lottery players, the daily income of the Jockey Club has not been less than 10,000 taels of silver for more than ten consecutive days.

Moreover, due to the large-scale participation of ordinary people, the Jockey Club has become more and more lively, which in turn has attracted many wealthy businessmen and nobles to come and play.

More small vendors saw the benefits and wanted to make some money, but they were turned away by the Jockey Club and were not allowed to enter to steal their business. They had no choice but to set up stalls outside the Jockey Club, which became a unique landscape.

At this point, the Jockey Club was finally put on the right track and became a veritable den of money and a source of tax revenue.

(End of this chapter)