AWB Chapter 559 Tu Yong Gets Promoted, Xie Ying Gets Rich
Chapter 559 Tu Yong Gets Promoted, Xie Ying Gets Rich
While Xie Ying was keeping an eye on those promising young people, she was also making money and enjoying the show. From time to time, she would ride her little bike out to show off, which made the little kids in Gusu City so jealous that they cried for their parents and begged them to buy them bicycles.
But it was no use for them to make a fuss because their parents were also greedy.
Unfortunately, bicycles are not cheap.
Even the simplest style costs twenty taels of silver.
The wealthy families in Suzhou can afford this price, but they would rather spend more money to buy a higher-end bicycle.
So as to avoid losing face by riding out.
Moreover, the production period of bicycles is long, so if you want to get the goods in advance, you have to pay more.
Those who are reluctant to pay extra can only wait for the appointment.
Many people don’t want to wait too long, so they don’t place an order and plan to wait until others have almost bought something before they buy.
Unfortunately, the news about the bicycles quickly spread from Gusu, and some caravans from other places even came to Gusu specifically to see the bicycles and then placed orders.
So Taiping Bicycle Shop has no trouble selling its bicycles.
If ordinary people don't want to spend more money, they can only place an order first and then wait for the schedule. If they don't want to place an order in advance, they can only wait.
Xie Ying felt very happy as she looked at the increasing number of bicycle orders.
Because she had a large amount of rubber grass in her hands, she had a considerable share in Taiping Car Dealership.
The more cars she sells, the more money she will get.
What's more, it's not just the rich who are interested in bicycles nowadays.
The imperial court also saw the convenience of bicycles.
Xie Xiu bought ten simple bicycles to make it easier for the government officials to go out for work.
When yamen runners went to the countryside to do their work, it was naturally much more convenient to have a bicycle than to run.
Not only does it save effort, it's also faster.
There are too few horses in Daxia, and the emergence of bicycles can make up for some of the disadvantages.
Although bicycles cannot completely replace horses, they are a very good means of transportation when there is a severe shortage of horses.
Even when delivering letters between post stations, bicycles could be used instead of horses as long as they were not too urgent.
Xie Xiu even wrote a special memorial to Emperor Taihe, proposing to expand the production of bicycles and equip government offices, post stations and military camps in various places with bicycles.
After seeing this, Emperor Taihe went to Situ Yuan to ask about the bicycle. Situ Yuan then rode a bicycle directly into the palace and demonstrated it to Emperor Taihe himself.
He is only eight years old this year, so he still rides a small bicycle.
Seeing that he was riding very fast, Emperor Taihe specially arranged for palace guards and eunuchs to chase after him to compare the speed of the bicycle and the person.
As a result, a little kid like Situ Yuan rode a small bicycle so easily that the guards and eunuchs were gasping for breath.
The huge contrast shocked Emperor Taihe, who decisively decided to open a government-run bicycle factory to mass-produce bicycles.
The bicycles from Taiping Bicycle Shop are still too expensive. If the imperial court were to purchase them in large quantities, it would inevitably cost a lot of money. How could it be as convenient as setting up a factory of its own?
What's more, steel is needed to build bicycles, and if they are mass-produced, a large amount of steel will be involved.
Emperor Taihe was naturally worried.
Not only bicycle factories, he also set his sights on rubber.
Although rubber trees have been discovered on Penglai Island, their number is too small. Although seeds have been used for trial planting, only seedlings have sprouted so far. It will take several years for them to grow into full-sized trees.
As a result, the rubber grass planted by Xie Ying became the top priority.
Emperor Taihe had previously wanted to use the rubber tires produced in the army, but the rubber production was too small at the time, so he had to temporarily give up this plan and let Situ Yuan build Taiping cars and carriages.
Anyway, due to the limited rubber production, Situ Yuan couldn't produce many cars.
But Xie Ying discovered rubber grass and planted a large area of it. How could he sit still?
Now that Situ Yuan has even invented a bicycle, Emperor Taihe is even more restless.
So he went straight to Xie Xiu to ask for rubber grass seeds and planting methods, intending to have people plant it on a large scale.
Anyway, there are a lot of saline-alkali lands in Daxia, and these lands can hardly grow much food, so they are just right for growing rubber grass.
In order to grow these rubber grasses well, Emperor Taihe specially sent Tu Yong there and promoted him from the seventh-rank official to the fifth-rank official.
In addition to planting rubber grass, Tu Yong also has to lead people to continue planting potatoes and sweet potatoes in the local area.
Although the task is quite heavy, once he gets it done, Emperor Taihe will naturally not miss out on his benefits.
Xie Ying's discovery of rubber grass was a great achievement, but she had already been conferred the title of Princess Fu'an at such a young age, so it was difficult to confer a higher title.
Emperor Taihe then arranged for Tu Yong to plant rubber grass and took the opportunity to promote him.
It can be considered that the good news does not flow to outsiders.
Because of this, I wonder how many people secretly envy Tu Yong for having a precious granddaughter.
Emperor Taihe treated his nephew Situ Yuan even better. He directly handed over the state-run bicycle factory to Situ Yuan for management and also assigned him a lot of staff.
Situ Yuan's Taiping Car Dealership can continue to operate, but the production volume is limited. Taiping Car Dealership can only produce high-end cars and do luxury car business in the future.
Because Xie Ying's rubber grass planting area was not too large, Taihe Emperor did not snatch it away, allowing her to continue supplying rubber to Taiping Car Dealership.
So Xie Ying didn't lose out either.
Although Taiping Car Dealership makes money, its production volume is not high after all, and the profit margin of low-end cars is also low.
Now that they have a government-run bicycle factory, Taiping Bicycle Shop can focus on developing high-end bicycles.
What's more, now that Situ Yuan has become the boss of the government-run bicycle factory, he will be able to do a lot more in the future.
Producing bicycles requires good steel and iron, so government-run bicycle factories can naturally build blast furnaces and produce steel and iron on their own.
By then, Taiping Bicycle Shop could purchase spare parts from the government-run bicycle factory for assembly.
You can make a lot of money and avoid trouble.
Situ Yuan could also take the opportunity to train craftsmen and cultivate useful manpower.
As he grows older and has more and more people under his command, his power in the court will naturally become greater.
By then, they will be able to reform the imperial examination system, add new subjects, develop science and technology, and improve productivity.
Instead of letting those corrupt scholars mess around, treating technology as a gimmick and then suppressing it madly!
Just when Situ Yuan was busy opening the government-run bicycle factory, Xie Ying's rouge and powder shop launched a new product - candles.
To be precise, it is paraffin wax extracted from petroleum by Situ Yuan.
In fact, at that time, some people had already used petroleum to make candles, which were called stone candles. However, the refining technology was not good enough, so the candles were not bright in color and produced a lot of smoke after burning.
Even so, this kind of candle is not cheap. A stone candle costs at least thirty cents, and good quality ones can be sold for hundreds of cents.
The paraffin wax extracted by Situ Yuan was pure white and indistinguishable from the candles of later generations.
Xie Ying put it on sale in the shop, setting different prices according to different specifications.
The cheapest one costs only one hundred coins.
This price is not cheap, but as soon as the news was released, the candles in the store were sold out in less than a day.
There is no way. Compared with it, the price of insect wax is more expensive, one stick costs at least two hundred coins!
In addition to this ordinary candle, Xie Ying also had someone make scented candles, which she sold for 200 wen each.
Then she asked Situ Yuan to bring candles into the palace to sell them, and took the opportunity to take over the palace's candle business and be responsible for supplying the palace.
Shops in the capital also began to sell various candles, which made people jealous.
Xie Ying didn't have the heart to care about those people because the provincial examination was coming.