The crazy Provincial Governor Ning didn't care too much about the consequences now. He just wanted to catch those merchants and interrogate them. As soon as this order was issued and the news spread, before he could catch them, a merchant had come here and handed a map to him.
When the merchant handed over the map, he no longer respected the Tang Governor Of Ning. Instead, he was grateful to the Chamber of Commerce on Lu Zhou's side, namely Zhang Zhong and Lord Zhang.
When the goods were shipped back, they had agreed that if the Tang Governor Of Ning started to arrest people, they would immediately hand over the map to the Tang Governor Of Ning. That way, the merchants would not have to worry.
At that time, the merchants in Qin Province did not believe that the Tang Governor Of Ning would do anything to them. They thought that Lord Zhang was thinking too much. They were usually helping the Ning family in Qin Province. Otherwise, how could the entire Qin Province develop on its own? Who would believe that the Tang Governor Of Ning would dig his own grave?
Reality gave them a hard slap in the face. As soon as the army was mobilized, they knew. Which merchant did not have informants? In order not to lose out, they sent the map. This was the transportation method.
In fact, it was very simple. They would transport the goods by water, pull a net under the water, put the goods in the net, and drag them all the way here. Then, they would secretly go ashore at a place that was not checked. This was the smuggling method used by Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan in the beginning. At that time, many people were fooled. Later on, they gradually stopped using it. Now, they could use it for the local people.
Tang Governor Of Ning looked at the map in his hand and then at the merchant. He chuckled and said, "So this is how it is transported. Don't worry, I just want to have a gathering with you. In the past, you have helped the Ning family a lot. Don't think too much, I have never thought of arresting you."
"Even if you don't say it, we know in our hearts that you won't arrest us. However, we always feel that it is not good to secretly transport the goods here. That's why we want to let you know the method as soon as possible to avoid causing more losses to you. My lord, we haven't been with you for many days. I wonder when you have time to meet up with us?"
The merchant who sent the map had a relieved smile on his face. He asked the Tang Governor Of Ning in a flattering manner.
"That's not urgent. I've been too busy recently. I'll find you in a few days." Tang Governor Of Ning knew the transportation method, so he did not intend to say anything more to the merchant. He just casually said that he wanted the merchant to leave...
. The merchant was sensible. He quickly said, "Then I'll go back first. My lord, you must take care of yourself. Qinzhou can't live without you."
After the merchant said that, he turned around and left. After he left the mansion, his face darkened. He finally understood what kind of person Tang Governor Of Ning was. He did such a thing, but he was not afraid that the merchants of Qinzhou would be disappointed. It seemed that they could no longer do business with the Ning family in the future, let alone transport Lu Zhou's goods here.
As for what to do, it would depend on how Lord Zhang of Lu Zhou would arrange it. At most, he would bring his family and money to Lu Zhou. There should be a business for them to do there.
The merchant's mind had changed. Tang Governor Of Ning's mind had also changed. He did not think that he had done anything wrong. He put all the blame on the local merchants. He thought that it was the merchants who did not help his family to guard Qinzhou well and secretly transported the goods here. This time, if he did not send the soldiers to arrest them, how could the merchants obediently deliver the goods here?
Tang Governor Of Ning threw the paper in his hand away lightly and ordered the people standing guard outside, "Men, send my order. Tell the people patrolling the Qinzhou River to check the things under the boats. If they find any goods, take them to the officials."
*****
At Lu Zhou's dock, the remaining two boats of the Ning family did not have many things left. There was only some food and a small amount of goods on them. The real boat carrying the goods had hit a reef on the way here. They were not in a hurry now. Their first task was to accompany the people from the families who came from Kaifeng.
The young masters and women on the 16 boats were also not in a hurry to sell the goods. The main purpose of their visit this time was not to make a lot of money, but to see the situation here. After learning more about the situation, they would know what goods to transport next time to earn more money. This time, they just wanted to earn back the travel expenses.
However, as soon as they disembarked from the ship, they fell in love with the Sea Cloud Inn branch. They ate one dish after another, wanting to taste all the dishes in Sea Cloud Inn. They also wanted to see the scenery here.
It was not easy for them to come out for a stroll. They could not do business right away. Their families did not ask them to stay for a long time. The most important thing was to find more fun things to do.
These young masters and women were all rich. They ate whatever was expensive and used whatever cost more.
At this time, Li Xun was happy. He also found out the identity of the people who got off the boat. He thought that other people should be interested in his hobbies. So, he quickly found some people who were good at talking and persuading those young masters to come to the mountain to play. For only 50 strings of coins per trip, they could see the charming scenery and stay in a wooden house.
In addition, there were some recreational activities like fishing and boating, as well as all kinds of food and drinks. All these tickets only cost 100 strings of coins. In other words, they only had to fork out 150 strings of coins to take care of everything. They could stay there for ten days. Counting from the time they entered the mountain, it only cost 15 strings of coins per day. For rich people, it was not a lot.
As expected, those people were tricked. Oh, not tricked, they agreed to join the tour group. They did not care about the Ning family's strong invitation to visit Qinzhou. They directly got on the carriage and looked at the scenery on both sides of the road. They went up the mountain. The goods were left on the boat. They would wait for them to come back after they were satisfied.
Li Xun was afraid that they would recognize him, so he did not show up this time. Seeing the group leave, he happily found Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. He said to them, "It's open, it's open. Ten days is not enough time to play. If you want to see all the places, it will take at least a month.
I have decided. After ten days, I will tell them that they have to wait for two months before they can go to more interesting places. At least, I can't let them see the waterfall with the rainbow. This way, they will miss it. Even if they go back home, they will think about this place.
On the last day, I will let them participate in a hunting activity for half a day. Maybe they can find more friends the next time they come here. Who said that we have to wait a long time to make money? "
Looking at Li Xun's excited expression, Zhang Xiaobao nodded. "Not bad. Young Master Li can actually make such a big deal. Since we are going to lure them, why don't we first draw the activities on a piece of paper and let them see it. It would be best if we could draw it with color."
"Yes, that's what we will do. Draw it, we must draw it. We must also engrave it. Then, use a color overprint to print it. When they leave in ten days, we will give each of them more. Let them use this to advertise when they go back and boast to their friends."
Li Xun's eyes lit up. He felt that Zhang Xiaobao's idea was good. He even added a few more things. This was the direction he was going to develop in.
But thinking of the Zhang family's ability to make money, Li Xun felt that he could still explore more. He asked Zhang Xiaobao, "Is there any way to make more money?"
"Yes, there is. This is not urgent. We will talk about it in a few months." Zhang Xiaobao had already had an idea, but this was not the right time to arrange it.
Li Xun thought that Zhang Xiaobao would go back and ask the expert in his family. He nodded and left excitedly. He found someone to draw some pictures of the scenery that would appear in the future. This could not be done blindly. Otherwise, if he disappointed the expert, he would not come.
After Li Xun left, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan also began to get busy. Since the two of them asked someone to burn the glass, they had burned a large piece of glass. In fact, it was very wasteful to do so. They just dug a big hole and poured the water into it. When there was enough water, it would become a large piece of crystal.
It was also made for fun, especially for some children. The two of them wanted to make enough things for them to play with. They were at the docks. Now that Lu Zhou's population had increased, it would be more prosperous in the future. With the addition of Hainan Island, they could cooperate to attract people to visit.
The children of poor families could not be controlled at the moment, but it was not a problem for the children of rich families. If they wanted people to come, they could not directly tell them how much it would cost. Otherwise, when people came, they would feel that they were being cheated. The early stage was free.
The way to make it free was not to tell people that it was free. Instead, it was to add a lottery item to the things sold. There was a certain probability that one could get it. Those who got it could come here for free once. At most, five people could come for free at a time. The children of poor families might not come and give the lottery item to the rich.
Of course, the children of rich families could not come here alone. They would need people to protect and serve them. Five people seemed to be too little. They could only have four people to assist them. If they wanted to send more people, one would have to buy the lottery for the children of poor families, and the other would have to spend their own money.
In addition to this kind of free trip for children, there was also a kind of free trip for couples. For example, couples with three people or couples with five people. It did not matter if they were a man and a few women, or a woman and a few men. Anyway, it was a luxurious free trip for couples.
Those rich young masters would think of ways to persuade the women they liked to come with them when they saw this situation. Even if they were rich, they could find a few women from the brothels to come with them. After all, they could make money. The travel expenses and accommodation were free. If they could not bear to spend money, they could eat good food.
But if they wanted to eat better food and play better things, they had to pay for it themselves.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were making things that others found novel. The high slide was made of iron sheets. The craftsmen here could perfectly connect the iron sheets used for the slide.
There was also something like the Torrent Rush. It was like a small boat falling from a high place. A large amount of isinglass was used to cushion the fall. For safety, the two decided to increase the cost. They could not allow people to die. Anyway, there were no isinglass here. Even if they paid a high price, people would be willing to play.
Then there was the maze. It was not only a maze above ground, but also an underground one. The top and bottom were connected. If one wanted to enter from the top, one had to go through the underground and then go up to the surface to exit.
If it were the two of them, the cost of such a maze would be very expensive. Few merchants could afford it. But here, they were not afraid. The people would give them food and water and pay them some wages. Soon, the maze would be built.
There were three of them. Now, two of them were making a mirror. When the glass was cut, they had already done some processing. It was estimated that it was not so smooth. This was even more difficult than making it smooth. When the others made the glass, the two of them added a layer of tinfoil to the glass.
They wore thick gloves and wrapped themselves tightly. Even their eyes were covered with diving goggles made of glass and isinglass. The tinfoil was fine, but the mercury was poisonous. The two of them did not want to be poisoned by mercury. After making a mirror, they put it aside and looked at it. Sure enough, it turned into various shapes.
As they worked, Wang Juan had an idea. She said to Zhang Xiaobao, "Do you think that if we use this protection when making matches, we won't have to worry about others being poisoned? Don't stay in that kind of environment all day. You can work in the match factory for two hours a day and then do other things. If other people come to change shifts, it will be more convenient to use fire sickles. "
"Do you know how to make safety matches? Otherwise, the kind of matches made can easily cause a fire. Also, what do we use to hold it? Use paper boxes? Paper is not cheap now. "
"Why do we need to make safety matches? They are specially made for the rich. When you use them, you just need to make a light stroke. When others see it, they will feel strange. Even if you give it to them to play with, they will fall down when they walk. There is no such thing as absolute safety. Paper is not difficult for us. We can make a lot of them soon.
I have decided to make matches. There are 50 matches in a box. Including the box, it will be 20 copper coins. The cost is less than one copper coin. You don't have to worry about this. I will do it myself. "
Wang Juan had her own ideas. Zhang Xiaobao didn't need to cooperate with her. Zhang Xiaobao didn't believe that Wang Juan was making matches for the sake of making matches. He didn't know what she was planning. Since they had their own things to do, he would let her do it.
The Haha mirror was easy to make. Soon, they made 20 mirrors. In addition to this, they also made some by-products, which were kaleidoscopes. They were naturally used to seeing them and didn't care for them. However, others who hadn't seen them before would be attracted. They were also sold to the rich.
Otherwise, if everyone used them, the price of mirrors and glass would be discounted. The two of them didn't want to selflessly take care of the entire Great Tang. Unlike salt, which was a necessity for daily necessities, the common people lived the same life with or without glass and mirrors.
The next day, the two of them began to move. They found the people who had nothing to do and called them over. They began to build a large maze. They made wooden boards one by one and then dug holes. The two of them designed a complicated maze blueprint.
The people didn't know how to read the drawings, so they used lime to draw holes in the ground. They just had to follow the traces of lime and dig.
The commoners didn't know what these tunnels were for, but since they had food and wages, they dug. Since they had nothing to do, weeding the fields would only take a little while every day. The rest of the time would be used for odd jobs.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan also found a craftsman to make a large slide and a trough for Torrent Brave Advance. Torrent Brave Advance could only draw water from a river and set up a waterwheel on top of it. Otherwise, if there was no water, how could it enter?
The three big projects started at the same time. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan came over every day to watch. There were also three dogs. Wang Juan said that she had seen others train them. However, when it came to her training, the results were not very good. The big dogs were smarter than the small dogs. Often, before the small dogs could learn, the big dogs could follow orders and do things.
This was also good. When the big dogs learned, the small dogs could learn from the big dogs.
As for the glass mirrors and things made of glass, they gave some to Li Xun for him to give as a gift. They didn't put the rest up for sale. The two of them had to wait until they had more goods before they sold them all at the same time.
While Lu Zhou's land was prosperous, the Tang Governor Of Ning of Qin Province could no longer sit still. In the past, he didn't think much of it when other places were inferior to Qin Province. He was willing to let Qin Province develop according to the rules of the Ning family. However, Lu Zhou was different from other places now. It was far ahead of Qin Province.
The Tang Governor Of Ning could not stand this. If Lu Zhou was the only one developing, it would not be a big deal. After all, the Zhang family had the money to invest. However, the provinces around Lu Zhou such as Lian Province, Shang Si Province, Su Maozhou, Xiang Province, and the other provinces were developing as well.
These provinces had all benefited from Lu Zhou. When the merchants bought things from Lu Zhou's Chamber of Commerce, they would sell them in their own provinces. At the same time, they would also collect things in their own provinces and sell them to Lu Zhou's Chamber of Commerce.
In the beginning, it was not a big deal. However, as the surrounding provinces collected some extra money from the taxes, and the merchants spent money to build some key roads in order to travel faster, the gap between them and Lu Zhou became apparent.
The other provinces had developed, but Qin Province was worse than before because of its small population and restrictions on merchants. This made Ning Zhongze unable to stand it. In fact, he wanted to develop as well. However, he needed the Ning family to take the lead. Since Lu Zhou was oppressed by Qin Province in the past, he had no intention of giving the Ning family any chance.
Since the Ning family no longer had a chance, Ning Zhongze could not let the local merchants have a chance as well. Therefore, he wanted to learn from the Zhang family and ship precious goods from the capital to develop himself. However, the first time, the goods on two ships were robbed by Zhang Zhong's men. The second time, four ships ran into rocks.
When they wanted to send ships from the capital, they no longer had the money to buy ships. They would have to transfer money from other places. Moreover, they would have to buy new goods. The Ning family had suffered a great loss.
Moreover, even if they did so, they would be delayed for at least half a year. Half a year was not a short time. At that time, they did not know how Lu Zhou and the surrounding provinces had developed. It would be even more difficult for Qin Province to catch up.
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