The emperor's idea of reopening the Silk Road immediately attracted the attention of the tea merchants. Even ignored the statement that the emperor wanted to develop tea bricks in the Huguang area. He Youfu, a tea merchant, suppressed his excitement and asked, "Dare to ask Your Majesty, what is this so-called border trade company?" ”

Zhu Youzhen retold the articles of association of the border trade company to the Shaanxi businessmen again to these Huguang businessmen.

For the way in which the imperial court opened up the trade in the form of companies, it seemed to these tea merchants to be more liberal and profitable than the fixed-time tea and horse trade.

He Youfu and his companions carefully discussed a few words, and then asked the emperor again: "Dare to ask Your Majesty, after joining this border trade company, will you be able to enter and exit the border at any time?" Are there any special restrictions on the types and areas of goods that the company operates? ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while, and then said: "In principle, after the establishment of these five companies, the border trade outside the land of the Ming Dynasty will be temporarily closed to other individuals.

Other individuals who want to participate in the outbound trade must go through these five companies, otherwise it is illegal. After the establishment of the five companies, the exclusive bidding will be held for the exclusive rights of each company, and the bidding will be renewed every five years.

The types of goods that each company wants to deal in will be reported at the time of the establishment of the company, and I will set up a special agency to manage the border trade, and the tax ratio of each company will be approved according to the different types of goods that the company operates..."

The merchant representatives of Huguang Province, after the Emperor's account, also expressed to the Emperor their willingness to obey the Emperor's instructions.

The little eunuchs behind Zhu Youjian picked up hot water and goat's milk, added some reddish-brown tea leaves, and white sugar, and made a few cups of milk tea.

After Zhu Youzhen invited several tea merchants to taste these ancient versions of milk tea, he casually asked, "What do you think of this tea?" ”

He Youfu frowned, but soon complimented with a smile on his face: "This way of drinking tea is really novel, and it tastes fragrant and sweet." ”

Other business representatives also echoed and said, but Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "What you said is against your will, this small black tea made in Xingcun Town at the southern foot of Wuyi Mountain, without milk or sugar, tastes bitter first and then sweet, and has an endless aftertaste."

But after adding milk and sugar, the taste of this black tea is destroyed, and it can be said that it is a tyrannical thing. ”

Several tea merchants were suddenly speechless in embarrassment, and He Youfu said cautiously: "Then why is Your Majesty?" ”

Only then did Zhu Youzhen say: "The Jesuit priests like this way of drinking tea very much, and Huguang's tea cannot be sold by border trade alone. And the best way to trade is by sea, and black tea is more resistant to storage than green tea.

Transported from Daming to the other side of the ocean, as long as the moisture-proof problem is solved, black tea is obviously less prone to deterioration. I hope you will find the right tea leaves and make black tea. As long as those Europeans like this improved way of drinking tea, will Huguang's tea still have any sales? ”

The tea merchants, who were already happy to keep their share of border trade, were lured by Chongzhen, but now they have a little more ambition for overseas trade.

After a busy morning, Zhu decided to talk to a few simpler provinces in the afternoon.

He first picked up Fujian, and most of the merchant representatives in Fujian were small businessmen, and the real big businessmen were smugglers who did not pay taxes.

Even so, these merchants were also inseparable from the influence of the maritime merchants. Under the combined influence of Xu Xinsu and Zheng Zhilong, most of the Fujian merchant representatives chose to support the emperor.

What Chongzhen has to pay is to let these merchant representatives participate in overseas trade and enjoy the benefits of overseas trade.

The attitude of the representatives of the merchants of Guangdong was somewhat ambiguous, they already enjoyed the smuggling trade without paying taxes, and Chongzhen's decision to open the sea ban actually caused their interests to suffer.

In fact, they did not want to support the emperor's tax increase, but although Guangdong has a long coastline and many ports suitable as good ports, it is limited by the fact that the province's products are not abundant, and the products from the mainland need to be exported.

If the emperor was angered and the commerce of Guangdong was suppressed, Guangdong, which had already lost its geographical advantages, would lose the support of the imperial court, then how could Guangdong's overseas trade compete with Jiangsu, Zhejiang and southern Fujian?

After talking with the businessmen in Guangdong, Zhu Youzhen found that he still did not get the real thoughts of these businessmen. These businessmen may fall to their opposites at any time with the general trend, this is his last thought.

Zhu Youzhen carefully calculated that Beizhili, Shaanxi, northern Shaanxi, Sichuan, Huguang, and Fujian already had a total of 90 votes, and even if Guangdong wavered, he only needed to persuade another 40 votes to pass the reform plan for levying commercial taxes.

Zhu Youzhen was thinking about the next meeting with those two provinces when a guard walked in and reported something to Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen immediately walked to Chongzhen's side and whispered a few words. After Zhu Youzhen listened, he immediately dispelled the idea of continuing the talks.

"That's all for today, and the matter of talks with the representatives of the provinces will continue tomorrow." Zhu Youzhen stood up and said to the people accompanying him.

Although the officials presiding over the congress and the officials of the guild were a little surprised, they still respectfully sent Chongzhen away.

After Zhu Youzhen left the Huitong Hall, he did not go towards the palace, but went directly to the outer city.

In the brick factory in the outer city, there were 18 pillars, and Zhu Youzhen, accompanied by the head of the craftsmen, inspected them one by one.

After the inspection, Zhu Youzhen casually asked the craftsman beside him, "Are these pillars 28 days old?" ”

Sun He, the head of the craftsman, immediately replied: "Yes, Your Majesty, it has been 28 days, and the villains have been maintained every day in accordance with the methods assigned by Your Majesty, and not a single day has been missed." Next, I ask Your Majesty to tell me how to test these pillars. ”

"Find someone to smash it with a sledgehammer until the pillar is completely destroyed, and record the number of hammer blows." Zhu Youzhen thought for a while, and then ordered.

Before there was no static press, he could only choose the most primitive method of human destruction. The 18 original reinforced concrete pillars were in dilapidation after half an hour.

Zhu Youzhen inspected the pillars again and found that all but three pillars had broken the concrete on the other columns.

"What are the numbers of these three pillars?" Zhu Youzhen asked, pointing to the three pillars that had preserved most of their appearance.

The craftsman's head just glanced at it, and then reported: "It's pillars No. 5, No. 9, and No. 14." ”

"Show me the firing records of these three pillars using cement." Zhu Youzhen casually ordered while observing the destruction section of the column.

Standing on the other side, the little official in charge of the brick and tile factory looked through the record book from the hands of the subordinates behind him, and then trotted to Chongzhen and respectfully handed it over.

Zhu Youzhen carefully looked through the three cement formula records, and the main materials were all the limestone and clay clay crushing and calcination he said, and the difference in the records was the difference in additives.

Zhu Youzhen looked at the record and said to the craftsman leader beside him: "These three formulas are all feasible, and we will carry out adjustment experiments on these three formulas in the future to see if we can fire cement with different effects, such as cement that can solidify underwater."

Well, based on these three records, we would like to stipulate that the temperature of the kiln must be high enough that the firing block contains a certain amount of vitreous and is black-green. Show me the rest of the records. ”

The head of the craftsman nodded and wrote down Chongzhen's instructions, while the little official hurriedly brought the rest of the records.

Zhu Youzhen also looked through the records very carefully, and compared the destruction surface of the corresponding column from time to time.

After closing the last record, he continued to say to the head craftsman: "Several of the pillars cracked easily, and the main problem was that the cement contained too much lime. Therefore, in the future, when firing cement, the ratio of limestone to clay must be correct and fixed, and there must be lime after the firing is completed..."

Zhu Youzhen was still very happy to finally get the cement, which meant that he could finally build a modern style road and factory.

However, cement kilns rebuilt from brick kilns in brick factories are obviously not suitable for large-scale firing of cement. And the limestone used in the outer city also needs to be transported from the West Mountain.

Now that the basic formula for cement had been determined, Chongzhen ordered the construction of a cement factory near the Mentougou limestone mine, and he discussed with several craftsmen how to build a cement kiln with the soil method.

To Chongzhen's regret, the work of grinding and crushing can only be done by human and animal power, which obviously limits the output of cement.

After spending most of the day in the brick factory, the sky gradually darkened. Under the urging of Wang Chengen, Zhu Youzhen finally left reluctantly. In the discussion with these craftsmen, he felt as if he had returned to the later world to hold a design meeting, and he was much more comfortable than drawing a pie for the representatives of the merchants.

Before leaving, Zhu Youzhen ordered the craftsmen and officials who developed cement to be commended.

When he returned to the palace, he saw a pile of documents piled up on his desk, and after asking Lu Qi a few words, he corrected them.

At the bottom of the document, Zhu Youzhen saw a book, he took the book and flipped through it, and after a cursory look at a few pages, he asked Lu Qi a little eagerly: "Where did this "East and West Foreign Examination" come from?" ”

It was rare for Lu Qi to see Chongzhen show such a demeanor, and hurriedly replied: "It was sent by Ni Yuanlu, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, saying that since Your Majesty wants to open the sea ban, then you should read this book and understand the situation in overseas countries." ”

Zhu Youzhen touched his chin and thought for a long time before he smiled and said, "If I want to meet Ni Yuanlu tomorrow, I will arrange it in the same hall..."

After receiving the proclamation from the local river anchor, many coastal fishermen from all over Shandong joined the fishing company established by the river berth.

About 12 fishing companies have been established throughout the Shandong Peninsula, and thousands of fishermen have joined. Most of these fishermen who are willing to join the fishing company are poor fishermen who have only one small boat or no small boat.

Fishermen's families who are wealthier and have a large boat at home are reluctant to join a fishing company.

Although the officials of the river moorings advertised, the fishermen who entered the fishing company would be assigned large boats to go to sea. But few people were willing to believe the words of the imperial court, but the few miscellaneous taxes abolished by the river did make the fishermen happy.