Chapter 164 Bundling of Interests

Everyone saw Luo Mingyue open the box and take out a strange rectangular box, and they didn't know what it was.

"County Lady Mingyue, what is this?"

"This thing is called a radio." Luo Mingyue said, and started to operate the radio casually: "This thing was made by our Luo family craftsmen recently. It can receive sounds. Please take a look."

As he spoke, Luo Mingyue ignored the surprised looks of the crowd.

He started to debug the radio, and after Luo Mingyue's debugging, the radio finally made a sound.

zizi——

A man and a woman's voices came from the radio.

"This is FM 37.5 News Channel. I'm the host Lin Sheng (I'm the host Xie Feifei). Recently, Sun Lindu, the son of Kaifeng Prefecture Governor Sun Boshan, had an argument with a brothel girl and beat her up. After Sun Boshan learned about this, he personally took Sun Lindu to the government office, beat him with sticks, and put him in jail for a month. He also personally collected money from the brothel girl and compensated her with three taels of silver."

"Mr. Lin, does Magistrate Sun have strict or lax education?" Sun Feifei said.

"If you say his upbringing is strict, he still dares to hit a girl. But if you say his upbringing is not strict, Prefect Sun personally arrested him and severely punished him. This punishment is already quite severe. So Prefect Sun is a good official, but not a good father."

"It makes sense..."

Everyone looked at each other in surprise at the radio in Luo Mingyue's hand.

They had never expected that this radio was so magical that it could even play other people's conversations.

"County Lady Mingyue, this thing is really rare. How does it make this sound?"

"I don't know either. My craftsman did it."

Luo Mingyue looked at the group of officials who looked like bumpkins who had never seen the world, with a faint smile on her face all the time.

"This is FM 56.3 Entertainment Channel..."

"Amazing, amazing, this thing is really amazing." Qian Wenxin exclaimed.

"I wonder if this item is sold on the market?"

"Once something is made, it will naturally be sold on the market. However, this thing is quite complicated to make, the output is not high, and the number of finished products is not large, so we don't plan to sell it for the time being. We will only give it away as gifts." Luo Mingyue's words were quite comforting.

These officials have power and money, so naturally they want the best things to use.

What Luo Mingyue gave them now, although not rare treasures, was enough to shock them.

Moreover, it is not available on the market in the short term, which makes them more satisfied psychologically.

"If it is presented to His Majesty..."

Someone muttered something, and many officials at the scene had the same idea.

"You should give up this idea. This thing can receive sound, but it still needs some supporting facilities. It can barely be used in Shanxi now. Outside of Shanxi, it will become scrap metal. If you give it to the current emperor, and the emperor finds that it is useless, he will punish you. Moreover, although this thing is rare now, it will inevitably be sold in the future. Although it is expensive, it will no longer be rare, so you should think twice before acting."

"Ahem...Mingyue County Lady is absolutely right. You should keep this good thing for yourselves and don't think about giving it to His Majesty."

After Luo Mingyue toasted with everyone, they got down to business.

"I wonder if the grasslands and our Ming Dynasty can do business now?"

"Your Majesty does not prohibit trade now, but we cannot sell salt, iron and grain to the grassland." Qian Wenxin said.

"The imperial decree must be obeyed." Luo Mingyue nodded: "But I have some goods that I plan to sell on the grassland. I wonder if you would like to join me?"

Everyone had no doubt about Luo Mingyue's business ability. The business taxes Luo Mingyue paid in the past six months were already an astronomical figure.

By next year, Shanxi's annual tax revenue may be almost as much as half of the Ming Dynasty.

So when they heard that Luo Mingyue wanted to do business with them, they naturally knew that Luo Mingyue wanted to get them into the partnership.

But they hesitated again. After all, collusion between officials and businessmen has been a taboo since ancient times.

Moreover, when collusion between officials and businessmen is required, in most cases, they have to engage in business that could lead to death.

"Don't worry, everyone. Just imagine if I sell coal, coal stoves, bicycles, sewing machines and other items on the grassland, wouldn't it be more profitable than selling salt, iron and grain? Why should I do such a beheading business?"

"Since this isn't a business that will get you killed, then why did County Lady Mingyue bring us in?"

"If it is a normal trade, the checkpoints will ask for bribes and the profit will be sucked out of the profit. It would be good if we can keep 30% of the profit. But if you are in charge of arranging it, then we can get the profit and it will be much more convenient for merchants to deliver goods."

“How much investment will it take?”

"We don't talk about status here, regardless of official rank. Every ten thousand taels will earn one cent, and each person can earn at most five cents." Luo Mingyue said, "I can guarantee that one person will earn at least one hundred thousand taels per year."

Luo Mingyue's meaning was very clear, which was to build closer relations with them, share profits with them, and give them money.

And this is not just giving away real money. They just want their family members to be listed and then have convenience when doing business in the areas under their jurisdiction, and they can earn hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year.

This is much more than what they earned by deceiving their superiors and subordinates.

"In that case, I will pay fifty thousand taels and take a five percent share." Qian Wenxin said immediately.

Others also responded immediately and all of them bought 5-cent shares.

These few tens of thousands of taels are really nothing to them.

After all, the benefits that Luo Mingyue brought to them in the past six months are far greater than this figure.

"I plan to build a road close to the grassland, and I hope you will give me some convenience."

"County Lady Mingyue, building a road of two to three thousand miles will probably cost a lot."

"I want to build a road, so naturally the benefits outweigh the disadvantages."

"Haha... that's true. Since Lady Mingyue has already made her proposal, I don't need to charge any money for the land I want to requisition within my jurisdiction. My government will take care of it."

"Thank you very much, Master Zhou."

The others also expressed their opinions. What Luo Mingyue wanted to transport to the grassland was not only the goods she mentioned, but also various construction materials, such as cement. At the same time, various mineral resources on the grassland would also be sent back to the Central Plains.

So this road must be built, and such a large project cannot be built secretly.

It was for this reason that Luo Mingyue hosted a banquet for these officials and promised them huge profits in order to build this road.

As long as this road is successfully built, Kaiyuan County and Caoyuan New City will be completely connected, and the transportation of materials will become more convenient.