My life skills in Daming Liver

Ren Fu came to Yu Zongyuan's house covered in oil.

"Old Ren, I asked you to take a bath and change clothes before meeting Mr. Yu, why don't you want to listen?"

Seeing his friend's sloppy look, Lin An sighed.

This old friend of mine originally had a great future.

He was one of the first batch of students at Tiangong Academy, and he was still learning the most popular loom at that time.

Those graduating students, whose families can support the money to start a workshop, have now become the big shopkeepers in Nanzhili.

Even if they are working for others, now they are all the talents that various workshops are vying for, and they are all the heads of large textile workshops.

Strictly speaking, Ren Fu and his group of students were all taught by Su Ze himself, and they can be regarded as "disciples of the Emperor."

But such a promising future was ruined by one word for Ren Fu.

This was when Ren Fu was studying at Tiangong Academy. He asked Su Ze for advice. He believed that the hydraulic mule machine was unstable and the places where water power could be used were always limited. Is there a way to make the mule machine better? It's turning?

Su Ze said with a smile at that time that humans will definitely invent a machine that can move on its own.

As if under a curse, Ren Fu began to study this kind of machine that could move on its own after graduating from Tiangong Academy.

His classmates from Tiangong Academy persuaded him and helped him introduce the work of the textile workshop.

Lin Anye helped him and even lent him a large sum of money.

However, Ren Fu refused to work in the workshop. After his parents died, he sold all his family property, refused to marry, and devoted everything to the research of machines.

Lin An had no hope of repaying the money he borrowed. The classmates around him also thought Ren Fu was a weirdo and were unwilling to associate with him anymore.

Ren Fu was busy working on his machine at home every day. As a good friend, Lin An couldn't stand it anymore, so he decided to drag Ren Fu to Zong Yuan's house.

Of course Lin An didn't want to trick Zong Yuan.

Yu Zongyuan is already a well-known investor in Hangzhou. Ren Fu's biggest hope now is that someone will be able to see the value of the machine he develops, allowing him to have more money for research.

So Lin An dragged him here because he wanted Yu Zongyuan to reject him, so that Ren Fu could completely give up and go out to work.

Lin An repeatedly paved the way for Yu Zongyuan, telling him that Ren Fu's invention was unreliable and that Yu Zongyuan would definitely not be able to invest in such a project.

Ren Fu ignored his friend's advice, but said: "If this Young Master is really as smart as you said, then he will definitely be able to see the value of my research."

"If he could see the value of my research, why would he care about the oil on my body?"

Lin An couldn't help but roll his eyes. It's no wonder that Ren Fu had contacted so many investors and couldn't sell himself when there were so many unreliable projects in Hangzhou.

Just that look is enough to persuade him to quit.

Entering the main hall, Yu Zongyuan was already waiting in the main hall. When Yu Zongyuan saw Ren Fu, his eyes lit up.

Messy hair, overalls, the most popular overalls for mechanics in the southeast, clothes full of oil stains, and a dark face like a coal digger who just came out of a coal mine.

Any investor in Hangzhou who sees this look will immediately see it off.

But Yu Zongyuan stood up in person.

After Yu Zongyuan's last failure, he was also analyzing and reviewing the reasons for the failure.

The final analysis and summary result is that Lin An is too reliable.

Lin An is Eunuch Hu's laboratory assistant. He is meticulous in everything he does and plans everything he does.

He has strong execution ability and pays great attention to details. He showers and changes clothes every time he visits Yu Zongyuan, and he is also very experienced in dealing with others.

I still made a mistake! How can such people be successful?

So after Lin An, several more people came to ask Yu Zongyuan to invest. They were all of Lin An's style. Despite their hype, Yu Zongyuan didn't invest in any of them.

If Lin An comes again, he can't survive it?

Seeing Ren Fu, Yu Zongyuan immediately felt that his honor was very unreliable.

Yu Zongyuan enthusiastically led Ren Fu to sit down, completely ignoring the oil on his hands, holding his hand and saying:

"Lin Sheng is a person I trust very much. He strongly recommended Ren Sheng to me. I heard that Ren Sheng is working on a great invention that can change my southeast?"

Ren Fu was also stunned. He was dragged out of the house by his friends.

He wanted to attract investment, but he never thought that a wealthy businessman like Zong Yuan would invest in him.

Who is Mr. Yu? He was a man who chatted and laughed with the Governor, so how could he like his completely unknown mechanic?

Yu Zongyuan is so enthusiastic that Ren Fu can't handle it.

But when it came to his invention, he still raised his head and said:

"Exactly! My invention will definitely go down in history!"

Yu Zongyuan is even more happy, I like your confident look!

"Can you ask Mr. Ren to talk about your invention in detail?"

Ren Fu immediately began to say: "Master Yu, the machine I invented only needs coal and water to move on its own!"

"In the future, the mule machines in the textile workshops and the heavy hammers in the forges will no longer need to be built near the water!"

"This machine can be loaded onto a carriage, and you can drive vehicles without horses in the future!"

"This machine can be moved onto the ship, and it will be able to sail without sails in the future!"

Lin An, who was aside, had already covered his face with his hands.

Before arriving, he had advised Ren Fu not to go so far all at once, but to say that the mule machine could be driven without water power.

Although in Lin An's opinion, this cake is unrealistic enough, it is still better than the next few words he said.

A cart without a horse or a ship without a sail is already a fairy tale!

But it's okay, Lin An originally wanted to make Ren Fu feel embarrassed. After listening to his words, Mr. Yu would definitely see him off.

Ren Fu went his own way. If he could not realize the significance of his invention, then such an investment would be meaningless!

Only investors who see great prospects can understand themselves clearly and support themselves to the end.

Yu Zongyuan's reaction was beyond their expectations.

Yu Zongyuan took Ren Fu's hand and said:

"Okay! Ren Sheng has great ambitions!"

"When the Grand Governor was in Nanping, he once said that we could build a machine that could soar into the sky and even reach the moon in the sky!"

You can hold the moon for nine days!

Hearing such domineering words, Ren Fu suddenly became crazy.

And Lin An was also stupid, he had to be the governor! You must be better than others in your dreams! To be able to write such a poem!

Lin An then remembered that Su Ze was also the emperor of the world!

Yu Zongyuan said immediately:

"Okay! I, Yu Zongyuan, invested in this project!"

What? Just vote?

Lin An quickly stopped Yu Zongyuan and said:

"Master Yu, please listen to what he has to say. How much money, personnel and equipment are needed?"

Yu Zongyuan then let go of his hand and asked:

"Ren Sheng, how much money do you need?"

Ren Fu was excited, not only because he had secured investment, but also because of Yu Zongyuan's words, "I can reach the moon in the sky"!

Yes, I only thought of installing the machine on a carriage or a ship, but why didn’t I think of flying it to the sky?

He immediately had the idea of ​​​​"a scholar dies for his confidant" towards Zong Yuan, and he said honestly:

"The steel requirements required to develop this kind of machine are very high, and more high-priced parts are needed. The previous failures even caused explosions. Now there is a strict crackdown in Hangzhou, and all workshops with potential safety hazards must be opened outside the city. In addition to the The land and factory equipment for the workshop will cost at least three thousand taels of silver."

Now Ren Fu felt uneasy.

What if Yu Zongyuan finds it too expensive? It's not easy to meet such a confidant.

"Three thousand?"

Yu Zongyuan raised his voice.

Sure enough, it didn't work. Just when Ren Fu was about to lower the offer, Yu Zongyuan pointed at Lin An and said:

"For a small match, I invested five thousand taels of silver!"

"Ren Sheng's invention can change the world!"

"Double it! I'll give you six thousand!"

Lin An was dumbfounded now.

Ren Fu's lips trembled. This man who had always worked tirelessly for his dreams was really about to cry.

"what else do you want?"

Ren Fu wiped the corners of his eyes and said:

"We also need precision gears produced in Nanjing. It would be best to recruit a group of newly graduated sand foundry craftsmen from Nanjing Tiangong Academy."

"There are also sealed steel pipes newly produced in Nanjing. I heard that the process was researched by the governor himself and is now only used in steel plants."

Yu Zongyuan waved his hand and said: "This is simple! I will write a letter to Governor Su right now."

Lin An wanted to persuade him again, but Yu Zongyuan said:

"This poem by the Governor alone makes the investment worth it!"

In this way, Ren Fu got a huge sum of six thousand taels of silver in a daze. From entering the house to getting the silver note and leaving the house, it only took a stick of incense.

Ren Fu still couldn't believe it. He looked at his friend and asked:

"Old Lin, last time Mr. Yu invested in you, how long have you been talking about it?"

Lin An thought for a while and said, "Probably it will only take that long."

Ren Fu was still speechless. Sure enough, this was the pattern. One stick of incense, fifteen minutes, six thousand taels of silver, and 400 taels of silver per minute.

This is already the point where every word is like gold, right?

"Shopkeeper Ren, let's go get some money. Next we have to choose a location to buy equipment."

The old steward of the Yu Mansion who followed Ren Fu out urged him.

"Okay, okay, go to the bank!"

Banks are inevitable with economic development.

In economically developed cities such as Susong, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, and Guangzhou, the amount of money spent in daily transactions has reached a very large amount.

The delivery amount of a ship of goods can often reach thousands of taels of silver.

It is inconvenient and unsafe to run around carrying money at this time.

The earliest banks appeared at the docks.

These banks simply facilitate transactions. Using silver notes to trade can avoid the trouble of transporting silver. Merchants who often trade at the dock directly deposit their silver in the banks, which also facilitates everyone's transactions.

But for this kind of bank, both the buyer and the seller must exist in the same bank to facilitate transactions, otherwise money will still have to be withdrawn.

Moreover, you have to queue up to withdraw money from one bank and deposit it into another bank, which is even more troublesome.

Eunuch Tao of the Fuzhou Shipping Company noticed this inconvenience, and he quickly contacted the bank at Fuzhou Port to set up a settlement system.

Eunuch Tao was also affected by Yuan Wencai's escape and became wary of the safety of the bank's funds in these ports.

Eunuch Tao came up with a way to ask each bank to send a certain proportion of their deposits to a special warehouse of the Shipping Department as a deposit.

The money exchanges between various banks are directly settled in each bank's margin first.

Every three days, ticket numbers that have insufficient margins will be asked to replenish their margins, and those who have paid more margins will get them back.

Transactions between depositors no longer need to use cash for each transaction. They only need to handle the accounting of each bank account, and then reconcile and settle the accounts every day.

This naturally greatly increased the transaction efficiency of Fuzhou port ticket numbers. More businessmen chose to dock in Fuzhou and deposit their funds in Fuzhou banks.

Nowadays, the port cities in the southeast are also in a competitive relationship.

Once the merchant ships docked in Fuzhou, they would not go to Hangzhou. The Hangzhou Shipping Department also quickly followed up and established bank deposits and unified settlement.

However, the bank where Yu Zongyuan saved his money was not a port bank.

It's a bank in the inn.

The millions of water workers in the Ming Dynasty were dependent on, apart from the water transportation system, the post station system with the largest number of people.

The express delivery shops in various counties and the inns along the official roads were the vascular network of the Ming Dynasty.

It was only in the mid-Ming Dynasty that the post system was violated.

Originally, only officials performing official duties could live in the inn, and the inn staff would provide food and accommodation.

But soon officials at all levels would use post stations when traveling and treat the service members at the post stations as domestic slaves.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, people like Xu Xiake, who did not even have the status of an official, could openly use the passes given by local officials to order the staff of the post.

In addition, official letters and personal specialties will be transported by the post, which greatly damages the function of the post.

Since Su Ze took control of the Southeast, he has strictly restricted the travel of officials and prohibited them from visiting prostitutes for free.

In addition, the post stations have also been changed from a completely corvee department to being run by some officials and hired corvees, and "post road departments" have been set up in each county to specifically inspect the situation of each post station.

This greatly enhanced the speed of the delivery of official documents in the southeast, and both officials and hired corvees were paid, which also stabilized the hearts of the people in the post system.

However, with so many people eating public food, the pressure is quite high.

Now the entire southeastern inn is under the name of the Customs and Excise Department, which is the department managed by Su Ze's father-in-law Fang Wanghai.

Looking at the inn that often suffered losses, Fang Wanghai was also very worried.

After reading about the reform of Fuzhou Shipping Division in the newspaper, Fang Wanghai also had an idea.

Why can't the post station open a bank?

With the inns all over the southeast, a bank could be set up!

The silver deposited at the Hangzhou Post Station can be sent to the city where the caravan is heading through the delivery system of the Post Station System.

When the caravan arrives in Suzhou, it can directly take the voucher and check the stub to get the money.

This eliminates the need to carry money long distances!

As for making money, can’t you still make money when you have a lot of money in your hands these days?

Yilu Bank also had government credit endorsement and quickly became a behemoth across the southeast.

After opening an account at Yilu Bank and looking at the money transferred into his account, Ren Fu pinched his thigh to make sure he was not dreaming.

He made up his mind to build a steam engine!

Repay the kindness of the young master!