The Ming Dynasty was indeed poor.

The prince was so poor that he had to make floral water to raise money for his wedding.

Even the impoverished Ming Dynasty emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was envious of Zhu Yunwen's ability to make money. He even disregarded his own status and wanted to get involved.

This made Zhu Yunwen find it somewhat amusing, and he said to Zhu Yuanzhang:

"Does Grandfather also lack money?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said:

“We don’t lack money, but the imperial court does. Rather than saying we want to invest, it would be more accurate to say that we want the imperial court to get involved in your floral water business.”

After all, even if you and that Zhao girl want to develop this industry together, you can only operate in the capital. It would probably be difficult to expand it to all parts of the country.

So we were thinking of partnering with you to establish this business as an official government enterprise, thus generating additional revenue for the Ministry of Revenue.

Zhu Yunwen smiled and nodded, saying, "If Grandfather has such an idea, Yunwen naturally has no objection. When the time comes, the court will take the lion's share, and I will only earn a little."

Zhu Yunwen was not actually interested in money, but he felt it was necessary to do this because it could help the court.

After all, the court and the world would be his in the future. Making the court richer would mean making the court that Zhu Yunwen would take over richer.

I can't possibly inherit a poor court when I become emperor, can I? Wouldn't that be even more of a headache?

With this in mind, Zhu Yunwen began to plan various actions for Zhu Yuanzhang regarding this matter.

The two discussed the matter for a long time in the imperial study and finally came up with a good solution: to hand the matter over to Zhao Qingzhu's family.

Zhao Qingzhu secretly controlled the operation, with the imperial court acting as a medium to expand the industry to various parts of the Ming Dynasty.

A large portion of the revenue went into the national treasury, while a small portion was used as costs and labor expenses, with Zhao Qingzhu and Zhu Yuntong each earning a small share.

The main reason is that the scale of this floral water sales is too large. In the capital alone, it can generate 10,000 taels of silver every day.

Although over time, once most people in the capital have bought it, the buying and selling of floral water may decrease.

However, the world is so vast that people in many other places have not yet possessed this thing.

If most people in the world bought a bottle, the resulting consumption and amount of money would be astronomical.

The revenue that could be increased for the imperial court would be substantial. Therefore, with this in mind, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Yunwen summoned the Minister of Revenue and entrusted the Ministry of Revenue with their plan.

Then Zhu Yunwen told Zhang Shan, the Minister of Revenue, that Zhao Qingzhu would be in charge of all matters related to the floral water, and that the production and sales system of the floral water would all be considered as working for the court.

Even if a shop is to be built, it will have to be registered under the Ministry of Revenue.

Simply put, according to Zhu Yunwen's intention, the flower dew shop that Zhao Qingzhu later opened would be a state-owned enterprise of the Ming Dynasty.

Most of the funds collected are directly deposited into the national treasury.

Upon hearing Zhu Yunwen's statement, both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Shan's eyes lit up. Zhu Yuanzhang then said:

"State-owned enterprise? That's a good name, but I don't quite understand the word 'enterprise.' If it were called a state-owned shop, it would be much easier to understand."

Zhu Yunwen smiled and nodded, saying, "Pretty much, it means the same thing: the money earned from profitable businesses set up by the imperial court naturally belongs to the imperial court."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "This thing is actually similar to our official salt, since official salt is also controlled by the imperial court."

The buying and selling, pricing, production, transportation, and so on—all were handled by the imperial court. So, wouldn't this government-mandated salt be considered a state-owned industry?

Zhu Yunwen said, "That's right, you can understand it that way, but there's one difference. This floral water is purely for increasing the court's revenue."

The purpose of government-mandated salt was to ensure that the imperial court could properly control it and prevent this vital commodity from falling into the hands of those despicable merchants who would then misuse it.

Therefore, their starting points are different.

Zhu Yuanzhang understood Zhu Yunwen's meaning.

The imperial court had no choice but to regulate salt and to have it sold under its unified control.

After all, the common people need these things, and it wouldn't be a good thing if they were handed over to merchants.

The situation with toilet water is different. Merchants can also make it, but now, in order to make money, the imperial court can only cooperate with Zhu Yunwen and Zhao Qingzhu to establish toilet water as a state-owned industry.

So, on a whim, Zhu Yuanzhang said to Zhu Yunwen:

"Since this floral water can be classified as a state-owned industry to make money for the imperial court, what about other things? Can't the imperial court also build some more and treat them as state-owned industries to make money for the imperial court?"

Zhu Yunwen naturally understood Zhu Yuanzhang's meaning. In fact, in the world before Zhu Yunwen's transmigration, the country did have many enterprises, and these enterprises could bring great benefits to the country.

Therefore, this method would naturally have been feasible in ancient times as well.

Zhu Yunwen simply said to Zhu Yuanzhang:

"Many industries have already developed to a very mature stage, with businessmen from all walks of life participating in these industries. They are already quite mature, and if the imperial court wants to intervene again, it probably won't gain any advantage."

"It would be bad if the business didn't go well and even resulted in losses. However, like with the coal industry before, the imperial court could earn a small profit from it. The same applies to cement production and other similar industries."

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