Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 24 The Civil Officials Know
The Royal Exposition that Zhu Houzhao wanted to hold was not just to auction luxury handicrafts, he also wanted to attract investment.

After all, the original purpose of the World Expo and the later World Expo in history was for trade. Zhu Houzhao opened the Royal Expo to allow merchants other than the Eight Tigers to establish trade relations with the Royal Industrial Company.

Although the main products of the Royal Industrial Company are currently only soap, glassware and perfumed soap, Zhu Houzhao believes that these three products alone can establish a huge industrial scale in the Ming Dynasty and even the world, just like tea, porcelain and silk.

Zhu Houzhao felt that only in this way could he possess more wealth and make the Ming Dynasty a powerful empire.

Therefore, after the luxury handicrafts ended, Zhu Houzhao asked Liu Jin to announce that the next expo would enter the stage of ordering new products of the Royal Industrial Company.

The first item is, of course, soap!

Soap is now a household name in the capital. Most people know that the advantage of soap is that it not only washes clothes and bodies more cleanly, but is also cheap.

In fact, many businessmen had long wanted to order soap in bulk and sell it in other regions, but unfortunately the soap was made for the royal family, and the previous supply was basically monopolized by eunuchs such as Wei Bin, so these businessmen suffered from the lack of ordering channels. After all, not everyone could contact a court eunuch like Wei Bin.

The role of the Royal Exposition is to provide a bridge for communication between merchants and royal industries. Now Zhu Houzhao used the Royal Exposition to give merchants an opportunity to order products from the Royal Industrial Company. Because Zhu Houzhao had the words "Royal Industry" labeled on the soap from the beginning, many people knew and believed that it was produced by the Royal Industrial Company, although they did not know what the company was.

But with so many merchants gathered together, only the one with the highest order price can win, which means bidding.

Selling products in bulk through bidding is naturally more beneficial to Zhu Houzhao's Royal Industrial Company.

Although the bidding is in favor of the Royal Industries Company as a supplier, the merchants are still motivated. As long as the price is not so high that they feel they will lose money if they win the bid, they will accept it. After all, the products of the Royal Industries Company are cheap, practical, and not available on the market today.

The shops of the Eight Tigers, as well as Xu Jing and other businessmen, all participated in the competition. Zhu Houzhao allowed the Eight Tigers to participate in the competition, but did not allow them to give their shops a green channel just because they were the founders of the Royal Industrial Company. The Eight Tigers had no objection, after all, the Royal Industrial Company was also their industry.

Because of this, the company received orders for soap alone worth more than 20,000 taels of silver on that day, and the amount was calculated on a monthly basis thereafter, which means that the company received orders of more than 20,000 taels of silver every month.

In addition, there were orders for glass products. Various glass products such as glass bowls, glass cups, glass plates, etc. were displayed one by one for merchants to place orders. On that day, the deposits for glass products alone earned the Royal Industrial Company more than 70,000 taels of silver.

Next is soap. Soap is not difficult to make. It is nothing more than soap and spices. Therefore, the difference in price is that the cost is higher and high-grade spices are needed, so the price is naturally higher.

However, after Liu Jin ordered people to conduct experiments to prove that soap does indeed make hands more fragrant, many merchants still purchased it, and the Royal Industrial Company received orders worth more than 20,000 taels of silver that day.

All in all, on the first day of the Royal Expo, Zhu Houzhao's Royal Industrial Company earned more than 500,000 taels of silver, and he himself earned more than 300,000 taels. Even after deducting the cost, it was more than 300,000 taels, which was more than enough to pay the 200,000 taels of rice owed by the regiment camp and the imperial guards. Liu Jin and the other eight tigers were also very happy. After all, they also earned more than 10,000 taels of silver this time, which was the income they had saved for several years before, but they did not expect to earn so much silver in just one day of the Royal Expo.

"Your Majesty, it is really cost-effective to hold this Royal Exposition. How did you come up with this idea? If we hold it every day, does it mean that we can have so much income every day?" Liu Jin couldn't help but ask.

"How is that possible? The people of the Ming Dynasty have limited purchasing power. Do they really think that money grows on trees? How can anyone spend tens of thousands of dollars every day to buy things? It is enough to hold this Royal Expo once a year. As long as the merchants participating in the Royal Expo make money, more merchants will come next year. Then we can make more money. The merchants who cooperate with us should be more polite and promote them more. In addition, we have to prepare in advance next year. By then, we can also attract more merchants from Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and the West to sell our products to more distant places and make more money."

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

The Royal Exposition has not ended yet. According to Zhu Houzhao's intention, it will be open for three consecutive days. After all, more businessmen will come to cooperate with the Royal Industrial Company after hearing the news.

What's more, a series of products such as glass goblets and glass bowls have to be exhibited. After all, it is an expo and people have to see them.

However, before the first day of the Royal Exposition was over, the City Inspector Qin Dongyi learned from people's discussions that His Majesty the Emperor was holding a Royal Exposition on Qipan Street outside Daming Gate.

Although the City Patrol Censor Qin Dongyi did not know what the Royal Exposition was, he knew that it would be a serious incident if His Majesty the Emperor was on the street, and as the City Patrol Censor he could not ignore it.

So, Qin Dongyi hurriedly took his soldiers to Qipan Street that day and saw Zhu Houzhao doing business with his own eyes, but he couldn't squeeze in because there were too many people.

Qin Dongyi, the imperial censor who patrolled the city, had to find a scholar to inquire about the reason. He then learned that the emperor was holding a royal exposition to sell his royal treasures because he was poor, and he also let the common people bid for them. For a moment, Qin Dongyi could not help but thump his hands and stamp his feet:
"This is nonsense. The Ming Dynasty is now ruled by the Three Elders. The country is peaceful and prosperous, but the emperor is forced to sell goods. What does this mean? This is a disgrace to all the officials of the Ming Dynasty!"

After Qin Dongyi, the imperial censor who patrolled the city, realized the seriousness of the problem, he ordered people to strictly guard the area to prevent accidents. At the same time, he rushed to the Ministry of War and informed the Minister of War Xu Jin of the matter. Xu Jin was naturally very surprised when he heard the news, and he burst into tears:
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Why do you have to do this? You are embarrassing us civil servants. The late emperor has worked hard for 18 years. How can he ask you to sell off the imperial property? Take me to Wenyuan Pavilion!"

Minister of War Xu Jin and Imperial Censor Qin Dongyi rushed to Wenyuan Pavilion. It happened that Minister of Revenue Han Wen was also here for a meeting and was about to leave. Minister of War Xu Jin directly grabbed Minister of Revenue Han Wen and said:

"Since you are here too, don't leave! How can you be the Minister of Finance? You actually made His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty sell off royal belongings on the street! And this is just to marry the Empress and bury the late Emperor! You have no shame, but we still have some!"

In a state of excitement, Xu Jin yelled at the Minister of Revenue Han Wen. Han Wen was shocked. He finally understood what had happened after the Imperial Censor Qin Dongyi explained the whole story. He couldn't help crying: "This, this, how can I be embarrassed, how can I be embarrassed? This will make people say that I am not qualified to be the Minister of Revenue!"

(End of this chapter)