In the tent in the backyard of Yunlong Pavilion, Eunuch An Ze'an was listening to the report from the shopkeeper. The business of Yunlong Pavilion is booming, and a lot of ingredients need to be purchased every day. The big shopkeeper will report the money in and out to Mr. An every day. It is just in time for the Chinese New Year, and there is an endless stream of guests coming to the restaurant. A lot of things require Mr. An to do it himself. In addition, Mr. An also needs to inspect and be responsible for the newly opened snack shops, scented tea shops, and dim sum shops.
Thanks to the inspiration from Shao Yun'an, Mr. An asked the queen to build a greenhouse specially for growing vegetables after returning to Beijing. This is not tea and wine to make money, the queen is in charge, and a large area of ten greenhouses is built in the suburbs of Beijing to supply the dishes needed by the restaurant. Sometimes they will send some to the palace, but most of them are in restaurants. Therefore, other restaurants in the capital are more or less short of dishes due to the lack of vegetables, but Yunlong Pavilion can supply all kinds of fresh vegetables every day, and there are only a lot of repeat customers. This also led to Siwai, the behind-the-scenes owners of those restaurants, sending people to find out where the vegetables in Yunlong Pavilion came from.
After getting a report saying that Jiang Kangchen was back, Eunuch An was so anxious to tell him to come here quickly. As soon as Jiang Kangchen stepped into the house, Eunuch An called, "You are back." He waved his hand to let the shopkeeper go out, and Eunuch An hurriedly asked, "Did Yunan ask you to bring something back?"
Jiang Kangchen smiled and said: "Of course there are. Yun'an made a new Guyuan ointment and asked me to bring it back to Mr. An, as well as vegetables and snacks. The most important thing is that Yun'an has come up with new ideas. Please take a look at it, Mr. An." .”
Jiang Kangchen submitted the plan for opening a hot pot restaurant, Eunuch An took it and put it aside, and asked a little anxiously: "When will tea and wine come out at Yun'an's at the earliest? Now people come to ask all day long, a catty The number of third-class tea leaves has already reached this number!"
Eunuch An held up two fingers, and Jiang Kangchen blinked: "One tael of two hundred taels of silver?"
Eunuch An looked contemptuously at "Why are you so petty", and said loudly, "Two thousand taels!"
"hiss!"
Jiang Kangchen got goosebumps all over his body: "Two thousand taels?! Isn't first-class tea only two thousand taels?!" Before the third-class tea was 100 taels a catty!
"That was before!" Eunuch An wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Special tea and first-class tea are now sold at tens of thousands of taels a catty! The goat's milk wine is also sold at a thousand taels a catty, but we have Out of stock!"
Jiang Kangchen's eyes widened: "Hey, when did it happen?! I entered the palace yesterday, Qiantui, didn't you mention it?"
Eunuch An was so anxious that he slapped the table: "Someone came to our house yesterday, and they just came up with this number. There are still several people! How dare our family tell Chitose. If I knew it, I wouldn't have sold all the tea and wine. It's a loss." It’s a big loss!”
Jiang Kangchen was also anxious: "This, this, who is it! This, this price is too high!"
Mr. An said, "It's the merchants from Shanren Tribe and Xianlu Kingdom! They got tea and wine from other places, and they are willing to pay this price."
"..." Jiang Kangchen froze for a moment. At this moment, he suddenly remembered that Shao Yun'an had said that in the future, he would sell tea and wine outside the country of Yan to earn money from other countries. In just a short time, businessmen from other countries have come to the country of Yan and are willing to spend a lot of money to receive tea and wine! Thinking of Shao Yun'an's business idea, economic development... Jiang Kangchen swallowed, tongue-tied: "Well, how about that, is it good?" He also lost his mind.
Eunuch An gritted his teeth and said, "Our family wrote a letter to Yun An, asking him to come up with a solution. That kid has a lot of ideas, no matter what, he has to come up with a good solution for our family. Thousands of dollars are already in front of us." If we can't take it down, what face does our family have to meet the emperor and Chitose!"
Jiang Kangchen was anxious when he heard this: "What can Yun'an do? This tea can't be harvested until Grain Rain and Qingming, and then it will have to be sealed for a while before it can be sold. Goat's milk wine will take even longer."
Eunuch An said: "Our family also knows, but the emperor and the queen are short of money now. If we let the money go away with such a large amount of money in front of us, we will be sinners! Yunan has always had many ideas, he will definitely come up with it." Good way. Our family said in the letter that as long as he can keep the money, our family will be his uncle in the future!"
Jiang Kangchen didn't know what to say now. Eunuch An is a celebrity around the empress, and his status is even higher than that of Zhuo Jin. Otherwise, the empress would not be so relieved to let Eunuch An be in charge of external business. There are not many people who want Eunuch An to be a godfather or uncle, even the officials in the court have many people who have such thoughts. It would be a great face to ask Eunuch An to take the initiative to be an uncle.
In the end, Jiang Kangchen could only say: "Let's see what Yun'an can do. Have those people been in the capital?"
Eunuch An nodded: "Our family said that we will give them an answer in half a month, and hope that Yun'an can bring good news to our family in half a month."
Jiang Kangchen said: "Master An, don't be too anxious. Even if the business cannot be done this time, they will do business with us in a few months. Didn't Yun An also say that by then, the There will be more good tea."
Mr. An said: "You don't understand. I don't know how many people are staring at us now. If we can't make these few deals this time, let's not talk about how those people speculated about Qiantui behind their backs, just like the Hengyuan Houfu. They will use this to recruit black people for us. Now the Hengyuan Hou Mansion has secretly sent people to buy tea and wine from other people. The business is small, but the contacts are big. If the Hengyuan Hou Mansion is asked to do these businesses, even if We will have tea and wine in the future, so we can’t raise the price anymore.”
Jiang Kangchen understood that this was probably the business opportunity Shao Yunan was talking about. He frowned: "Hengyuanhou's Mansion dares to steal business from us openly? Don't they know that our business belongs to the emperor and queen?"
Eunuch An immediately said sarcastically: "How could they not know. They simply don't pay attention to the emperor and Qiantui. The money in the Hengyuanhou's mansion is many times richer than the treasury of our Yan country, but why did the Hengyuanhou To share the worry for the emperor when the emperor needs money? Who doesn't know that Hengyuan Hou wanted to marry his eldest daughter into the palace, but was rejected by the emperor, he wished that the emperor didn't have money in hand."
Jiang Kangchen is also the empress's person now, and he and Eunuch An are colleagues, so Eunuch An told him this. Jiang Kangchen had also heard about this incident.
During Emperor Gaozu's reign, he conferred two lords and three lords, namely: the Wu family of Anguo Gong, the Chu family of Ning Guogong, the Wei family of Hengyuan Hou, the Zheng family of Zhaoyang Hou, and the Lu family of Zhengyuan Hou. In the period of Emperor Kangsheng, the first emperor, the number increased to three lords and five lords, including the Su family of the Duke of Lu, the Zeng family of the Pingan Hou, and the Bai family of the Jingling Hou. In Emperor Kangsheng's later years, the mansion of the Duke of Lu and the Marquis of Jingling were affected because of their in-law relationship with the Dai family, and they were deprived of their titles. After Emperor Yongming came to power, they restored their titles. Nowadays, it is widely circulated in the capital that "three lords, five marquises and one king general", the "king" of one king refers to Murong Duan, Luo Rongwang, the only prince of Yan Kingdom, and "general" refers to the family of the great general.
Among the ten largest aristocratic families today, the Wei family of the Hengyuan Hou Mansion is the richest. Before Gaozu took over the country, the Wei family was a big businessman at that time. At that time, the head of the Wei family followed Gaozu to conquer the world and provided Gaozu with a lot of financial assistance. After Gaozu ascended the throne, he jumped from a low-status businessman to a powerful lord. Afterwards, relying on their relationship with Gaozu, the Wei family monopolized the business of the entire Yan Kingdom, and became the veritable commercial emperor of the Yan Kingdom.
At the same time, as one of the old aristocratic families in the Yan Kingdom, the Hengyuan Hou Mansion naturally sent many men and women into the palace to seek greater benefits and power for the family. Among the male monarchs and concubines favored by the late emperor in his later years, some belonged to the Wei family. During the bloody storm before and after Emperor Yongming's accession to the throne, the men and women sent to the palace by the aristocratic family were killed, and those who were kicked out of the palace were kicked out of the palace. Only then did the Wei family's connections in the palace be cut off. Afterwards, the Hengyuan Hou Mansion and other aristocratic families frequently asked Emperor Yongming to choose a concubine, in order to send his clansmen to the palace again, and to the emperor's side. It's a pity that Emperor Yongming is a rare infatuated species, and he deeply hates the aristocratic families. These aristocratic families have nothing to do with Emperor Yongming. It was precisely because of this that Emperor Yongming had such a difficult time.
Eunuch An, who is absolutely loyal to the emperor and the queen, gritted his teeth when he mentioned these people who "bullyed" the emperor and the queen. He is so anxious not only for large sums of money, but also that he must not give the Hengyuan Hou Mansion the upper hand. No matter what method he uses, he still wants to catch those rich and wealthy businessmen in his hands. The country of Yan was ruined by the former emperor and fought for years, and the whole country was poor. In contrast, the Dashan tribe with strong folk customs and the Xianlu country, which was rarely affected by war due to geographical reasons, can be regarded as a peaceful country and a very safe country. money. From a modern point of view, these two "countries" are full of local tyrants, and everyone is not short of money.
If Shao Yun'an was here, he would definitely ask, these two countries are so rich, why didn't they take the opportunity to carve up the country of Yan? Here we insert a bit of historical background here. Dashan Tribe is a tribal alliance composed of 20 or 30 small tribes, rich in resources and sturdy folk customs. It can be said that the mountains and rivers they rely on can bring them rich profits. Although the folk customs of the Dashan Tribe are tough, they are not willing to go to war with the Yan State, because the Dashan Tribe is not as large as the Yan State, and the population is not as large as the Yan State, and they are also invaded by the Huhar State. It was only in the later years of the first emperor that Yan State began to weaken its national power. Even so, it still repelled the attack of Huhar State. Therefore, unless it was too idle, the Dashan tribe would not take the initiative to attack Yan State.
The Xianlu Kingdom is relatively far away from the Yan Kingdom, and there are many mountains in between. The Xianlu Kingdom is near the sea, and their main enemy is the Sri Lankan bandits from the Dasi Kingdom on the other side of the sea. Because Xianlu Country is close to the sea and has developed sea transportation, their business has gone overseas. Because of the money, the people of Xianlu Country prefer to live a comfortable life, and because they are far away from Yan Country, they rarely attack Yan Country. It can be said that the relationship between Dashan Tribe, Xianlu Country and Great Yan Country Fairly harmonious.
The country of Yan was poor, and Emperor Yongming had thought about earning some money from the Dashan tribe and the Xianlu country, but suffered from no way out. The business of the Great Yan Kingdom is monopolized by the Hengyuanhoufu, and Emperor Yongming doesn't have anyone who is good at doing business. Even if there is, it is difficult to bypass the mountain of Hengyuanhoufu. Now, Emperor Yongming finally has a business that can completely get rid of the influence and control of the Hengyuanhou Mansion, how could he let the Hengyuanhou Mansion take it away again.
Thinking about the key point, Jiang Kangchen comforted him and said, "Lord An, don't worry about this matter, otherwise we will be in a mess first. I thought that this matter should be presented to Qiansui first, and then we will see if there is any improvement in Yun'an's side." The way. During the Chinese New Year, I ate a lot of delicacies at Yun'an. Yun'an wrote the recipe. I came back this time to discuss with you about opening a hot pot restaurant, and we can add a roast duck to Yunlong Pavilion dishes."
"Hot pot restaurant? Roast duck?" Eunuch An keenly sensed the business opportunity.
Jiang Kangchen immediately introduced what is hot pot and what is roast duck in detail, and also explained in detail how he felt after eating it. Eunuch An's eyes became brighter and brighter. Before Jiang Kangchen finished speaking, Eunuch An He patted the table and said, "Open! While it's still cold, this hot pot restaurant will open immediately! Let the chef study the roast duck and serve it as soon as possible. Coincidentally, there is a farm in Chitose that raises a lot of sheep. It was originally given by the emperor. Chitose used it to warm up."
When Jiang Kangchen heard the words, he hurriedly said: "Then let's go elsewhere to buy some sheep, and keep those sheep for Chitose to warm up."
Eunuch An sighed: "Qiantui now feels abdominal pain whenever he eats mutton, and he hasn't eaten it for a long time, but the sheep can still be sold for money, so Qiantui let him keep it, and now it's just right."
Jiang Kangchen shut up, and Eunuch An immediately said excitedly: "Come on, let's talk about this hot pot restaurant. After a while, our family will go into the palace and tell Chitose about the tea, wine and this hot pot restaurant."
It was already night when Jiang Kangchen returned to Jiang's house from Yunlong Pavilion. He and Eunuch An discussed for a whole day about the future development of Yunlong Pavilion and the serving of new dishes such as hot pot restaurant and roast duck. Earn money and business is full.
To be honest, a few months ago, Jiang Kangchen could not have imagined that his life would be so busy and full, but in this busy and full, his heart was more at ease and more relaxed. It seems that all the shackles that have been pressed on me for a long time have been taken away by these busyness.
After returning home, Jiang Kangchen washed away his tiredness, instead of going to bed immediately, he leaned over his desk and wrote the memorial. Mr. An is in charge of the business accounts, and Jiang Kangchen doesn't intervene. He is mainly responsible for expanding the business. This was full of difficulties and challenges for Jiang Kangchen, who had been closed in the Duke's Mansion for many years, and then only did some "small" business in the capital, but it also filled him with energy. During the time in Xiushui Village, he learned a lot of business skills from Shao Yun'an. Although it was difficult, he could still handle it. The amount of tea and wine is small now, but the supply in the capital is in short supply. In the future, the amount of tea and wine will increase. How will he break through the suppression and obstruction of the Hengyuan Houfu and other big businessmen in the country of Yan, and make the business of the emperor and queen complete? The capital city, making the country of Yan, is the primary problem he has to solve.
By the time Jiang Kangchen finished his work, it was already late at night. He was so tired that he couldn't keep his eyes open, he just closed his clothes and fell on the bed, kicked his shoes, pulled the quilt over his head and fell asleep, which was completely impossible for him in the past. His son Jiang Moxi was sent to Xiushui Village by him, which was equivalent to dispelling his last worry. Now he only needs to rush forward with one brain and work hard for himself, his son, his younger brother Kang Ning, and the Jiang family. There was a faint fragrance of plum blossoms at the end of his nose, and Jiang Kangchen fell asleep with his head next to the pillow. In the dream, someone hugged him tightly and shouted in his ear: "Chen Bao... Chen Bao..."