Future library

It was not because Cheng Jinzhou was hot-headed that he handed over the affairs of the maritime firm to Shi Yan. He was only 13 years old, and he didn't have any useful candidates. Shi Yan had followed him for a while, and he had a contract of betrayal. Speaking of which, he was also a very loyal person. Since ancient times, emperors have liked to use eunuchs. It is often not because the eunuchs are excellent, but because they are around, so they are more trusted.

What's more, from Cheng Jinzhou's point of view, maritime trading companies are not a big deal. There are many trading companies in Daxia Dynasty, and they are not missing. Of course, for Shi Yan, this was an opportunity, but he couldn't fully realize it yet.

Early the next morning, Cheng Jinzhou took Meng Da to the west port of the city. Then he called up the independent trading platform in the rented warehouse, purchased 100 tons of sugar, put it away, and quietly withdrew it. The whole process only took half a day. time. This can be regarded as his attempt. If he can control the supply and channels, it doesn't matter if he doesn't participate in the specific transactions. In fact, the business practices of most aristocratic families basically follow this process. However, when they become bigger, they usually let the person in charge break away from the contractual relationship with the owner of the family. According to the rules of the Great Xia Dynasty, except for being landlords, nobles are not allowed to do business. Allowed to engage in other professions. Cheng Jinzhou had not had the opportunity to come into contact with the Cheng family's method of making money before, and now he could only slowly figure it out.

Shi Yan didn't know Cheng Jinzhou's arrangement, but he was somewhat apprehensive. While hesitantly contacted the maritime firm, he carefully observed the attitude of his third brother.

Xiao Cheng ignored him and just set the time and price, then let him talk. Just matters related to the Star Warlock would make him very anxious, not to mention that there were still many things going on in the Hongwen Hall. Fortunately, he has become a one-star warlock. Although the professors will not fawn over him, they will not ask him like an ordinary student. At this point, Dr. Cheng Da successfully obtained the privilege again.

It seems that Cheng Jinzhou has been able to obtain privileges in school, so although he feels much more comfortable, he doesn't even express the slightest thanks. Now, he basically treats the Star Warlock Association as a classroom, reporting on readings on time every day, and at the same time checking the contribution points in his certification stone.

Of course, the latter is the most important.

From 4 contribution points to 8 contribution points, Cheng Jinzhou waited for a month; from 6 contribution points to 23 contribution points, it took him another month; but in the following days, he was able to achieve the goal every day. Get more than 10 contribution points. After excluding the 52 contribution points spent, Cheng Jinzhou still had 76 contribution points.

Sitting on the spacious chair of the Star Warlock Association, Cheng Jinzhou had already begun to think about his life as a two-star warlock.

"Good morning, Mr. Cheng." As usual, an unknown star warlock would greet Cheng Jinzhou. There are always more than ten star warlocks like him who come to the association's archives every day to report. If you really count, he is naturally the oldest. .

However, it is Cheng Jinzhou who is most famous now.

From the outer peninsula to the court, there are more and more debates about geometric optics. Although these debates inevitably tend to be abstract, resulting in fewer and fewer people citing the results, in terms of reputation, many astrologers have He recognized Cheng Jinzhou's work.

For the arrogant gentlemen, this is already very rare.

When he heard the greetings, Cheng Jinzhou pretended to smile back, and occasionally said "Hello", then he would continue to lower his head and read a book. Compared with these gentlemen who claimed to be elites, and were really elites, he always felt a sense of alienation. On the other hand, sitting in the Star Warlock Association's library, he often felt a sense of pride, or arrogance, in his heart, which actually made his expression more like a normal Star Warlock.

Two astromancer apprentices pushed a squeaking cart and classified a book on the bookshelf. One of them seems to have mastered the gravity technique. Just by waving his left and right hands, he can make the book fly up and down automatically, and the landing point is precise, which shows that he has practiced it carefully. The association's bookshelves can be up to two stories high. If you don't have some skills and can't fly, reading will be difficult.

Cheng Jinzhou raised his eyes with envy. Among the archived books, geometric optics naturally had the largest number. This is a subject that has not yet established authority. Regardless of whether there is research content on hand, everyone will still pay attention to it. Half of the books borrowed by everyone are newly submitted achievement reports in the field of optics.

However, the more lively a theory is, the more difficult it is to maintain its strong vitality. Nowadays, few people quote the process of optical derivation in articles. With the increase in everyone's familiarity and recognition, it is enough to directly use the conclusion. Cheng Jinzhou's increased contribution now Point, it may have been written many days ago.

A copy of "Record of the New Properties of Light" newly submitted by Xiao Cheng himself was copied and placed in the lower column on the left. Presumably other dungeons are also on their way to other cities. If they were in Jiang Huangxing Warlock's position, their new results reports would definitely be disseminated through the star array as soon as possible, but because of this, their new results are often You have to think about it again and again, but the speed is far inferior to that of the new star warlocks.

A star warlock got up to read, and soon found Cheng Jinzhou's name on the spine of the book, and said "congratulations" with a smile. Cheng Jinzhou stood up and clasped his fists. There were only twenty or thirty people in the room at most, which was quite relaxing.

After sitting down, Cheng Jinzhou inserted the authentication stone into the metal slot and secretly waited to see the changes in the numbers. In fact, it doesn't make much sense. Except for people like Cheng Jinzhou, who can read a paper in the morning and write another one in the afternoon, but in his heart, he can't help but feel a little expectant and a little uneasy.

Young's double-slit interference is famous because it is a very simple and clear experiment. It well proves the existence of interference of light, thereby indirectly proving the wave nature of light. Over a long period of time, , this experiment dominated the entire scientific society’s understanding of optics. If he waits for a while, Cheng Jinzhou believes that with this experiment alone, he can get the title of a two-star warlock, although it may take some years of accumulation.

But now, it is difficult for him to estimate how much people will agree with it.

Throughout the whole day, copies of "Record of the New Properties of Light" were circulated in the hands of the astrologers. Since there was not much content, if the astrologers who wanted to read it could not find the book, they could also ask the association's The star warlock apprentice copied another copy, and by nightfall, there were as many as a dozen books on the bookshelf.

Of course, contribution points will not increase as a result.

When it was dinner time, Cheng Jinzhou paced out. Shi Yan lowered his head and waited absentmindedly. When he heard the footsteps, he jumped up and said hello with a green tea face.

"How's the situation?" Cheng Jinzhou got into the carriage and spoke through the curtain, quite imposingly.

"I met the second shopkeeper of the company. It went very well. I will follow the price you negotiated, which is 60 taels of silver per ton. It just depends on when the delivery will be delivered. You can pay with flying tickets or Kuping silver." Although things did go smoothly, Shi Yan's mood was not relaxed at all. Being a book boy with Cheng Jinzhou, no matter whether it's hard or not, you don't have to worry about anything. It would be different if he was let out. In addition, he was worried that his master would not like him, so it was inevitable that he would get angry.

Moreover, such a large amount of 6,000 taels of silver was completely beyond Shi Yan's expectation. This amount of money can buy almost 300 acres of ordinary sloping land. The total land in Zhuangzi with poorer land is only a few hundred acres. Thinking that this money will pass through his hands, Shi Yan's mouth becomes even more exciting.

Cheng Jinzhou shrugged nonchalantly. He had expected the deal to be negotiated. Although sea merchants can transport cheaper sugar from further away, the purity and sweetness cannot be compared with the white sugar he traded, even though what he bought is already the cheapest fourth-grade product. .

In his opinion, even if the price were to be raised a little more, the maritime merchants would agree, but it would not mean much - sugar was basically a high-end product in the Xia Dynasty, and the market capacity was limited. To raise the price, the supply would eventually be reduced. Quantity, this is obviously putting the cart before the horse. He is already making excess profits, and it is impossible for him to reduce his shipments by one-third or one-half in order to obtain one-sixth or one-fifth more profits.

In fact, just look at the capitalists from the colonial era and you will know. When they sell clocks, opium and other unique materials, why don't they know to reduce the shipment volume and increase the selling price? If there was still competition in the Chinese market at the end of the Qing Dynasty, then the East India Company's operations in Nanyang were a complete monopoly. Even so, they had to swing endlessly and constantly weigh between increasing selling prices and increasing sales volume. Cheng Jinzhou, who has almost unlimited supply, naturally has no interest in making white sugar a luxury product in the sugar market.

After thinking about it like this, he first asked Shi Yan: "If you are given the right to set the price, how much do you think these candies can be sold for?"

Shi Yan was shocked and whispered: "Maybe one ton can be sold for 65 taels of silver. I will go and talk to them again."

"No, but your job is to sell more and spend less. Just set the price of the sugar and find a day to deliver it." Cheng Jinzhou thought about it and said: "Then the transaction will be done with flying tickets. The amount is relatively large, so bring Let’s go with Meng Er.”

Flying tickets need to be exchanged through the government. The existence of a bank check instead of a cashier's check is an extra layer of protection.

Shi Yan responded in a low voice.

Cheng Jinzhou asked again: "What is the type and price of the linen I showed you last time?"

"The merchants in Xia Jing do not distinguish between types of linen, and each piece costs about 400 yuan. However, for some larger merchants, if the linen is collected directly from the production area, the varieties are basically the same. The quantity of ramie you want seems to be Not much, the most used here is jute, which is shipped directly from the north, and there are several families specializing in it.”

"Order 20,000 pieces of linen." Cheng Jinzhou ordered and stopped talking. He was content to hide in the carriage.

6,000 taels of silver can buy 30,000 pieces of linen, which can be exchanged for 6,000 star dollars, and this money can buy 1,200 tons of sugar. After one transaction, he will make 12 times the profit. If the trade volume is not restricted, he will soon You can accumulate a large fortune.

While he was imagining, he remembered the sound of horse hoofbeats and Meng shouted loudly, and the other party shouted: "Cheng Jinzhou, I am Shen Cong."

"Stop the car and let him over." Cheng Jinzhou had a bad feeling.

The carriage slowly stopped. As soon as Cheng Jinzhou opened the curtain, Shen Cong rushed forward. He pulled back the reins suddenly, jumped off the horse, and said in a deep voice: "The news I just received is that in the afternoon, the Minister of Punishment It is recommended that the Menha Province is scheduled to re-determine the candidate and leading party for the Shaonan investigation in three days."

…