Before Li Ruolian could answer Liu Zhaoji's question, a middle-aged man in official robes rushed in from outside the door.
As soon as he entered the room, he shouted, "Where's the shopkeeper? Come out!"
"What's the matter, sir?" A middle-aged man with a kind face and a fat body hurried out.
He came to the official and greeted him with a smile: "What's the matter, sir?"
"What's the matter?" The official put his hands on his waist and looked angry. "I want to ask you, the Ministry of War ordered 100 packs of cigarettes from you last month, why haven't you delivered them yet?"
"Sir, please calm down," the shopkeeper said, motioning with his hand for the shop assistant to serve tea to the official. "There is little supply and many people. The demand is insufficient. The cigarettes for the Ministry of War will have to wait a while."
"They can't wait! From the minister to the runners in the government office, everyone is waiting for this thing to relieve their fatigue!" The official from the Ministry of War snorted coldly, "The Minister of War is the chief minister of the cabinet, you know that, don't you?"
"I know. I know." The shopkeeper bent over and spoke humbly.
At this time, the waiter in the shop handed over the tea. After looking at the steaming tea, the anger of the official from the Ministry of War subsided a little.
He looked around and saw five people standing in the store, all with their backs to him.
"What do they do?" asked the military official.
“They all come here to buy cigarettes.”
"Let them go and tell them that the Ministry of War has bought all the tobacco for today!" The official from the Ministry of War stood up and said viciously.
The shopkeeper shrank his neck and said, "Sir, please keep your voice down. They are all..."
The military official stood up suddenly, walked to a person and shouted: "Can't you hear me? Today's cigarettes..."
The roar stopped abruptly.
Because he found that the person standing in front of him was none other than Li Ruolian, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
No, not just Li Ruo Lian.
And the East Factory Admiral Wang Zhixin...
British Duke Zhang Shize...
Governor of the Beijing Camp Liu Wenyao!
He also knew the last person. The Ministry of War had just drafted an order to transfer him to Baoding to serve as deputy general.
Wang Zhixin walked up to the military official, put his right hand on his right ear, and asked, "What are you yelling about?"
"I..."
"What do you mean? Get out of here now?" Wang Zhixin glared at him fiercely.
The official from the Ministry of War knew that he was of low rank and had little power and could not defeat these people, so he snorted heavily and turned away.
As the military officials left, the room returned to silence.
Li Ruolian then looked at Liu Zhaoji and asked with a smile, "When did Brother Liu come to Beijing?"
Liu Zhaoji's mouth twitched, thinking, how could you not know when I came to Beijing?
The little brat from Jinyiwei cheated me out of fifty cents!
He coughed lightly and said, "Commander Li, stop joking. I want to ask what are you all waiting for here?"
"Wait for the cigarette."
"Cigarette?" Liu Zhaoji was a little puzzled.
He came from a military background, so of course he knew what cigarettes were.
Although this thing can relieve fatigue, you will cough if you smoke too much.
That’s why the imperial court issued a clear ban.
Judging from the current situation, the court is going to lift the ban?
"Yes, Zhou Shang has recently started selling cigarettes. Although they are a little expensive, they are not choking when you smoke them, and you won't cough after smoking them." As Li Ruolian spoke, his eyes began to light up.
Liu Zhaoji looked at the others and asked, "Are you all waiting to buy cigarettes?"
"Yes!" Duke of England Zhang Shize nodded.
"That's right." Liu Wenyao, the governor of the Beijing camp, replied.
"What else?" Wang Zhixin asked back.
While we were chatting, two guys came in from outside carrying a large box.
These people immediately surrounded him and soon divided up the box of cigarettes with a chat.
"Here, I'll give you two packs." Li Ruolian handed Liu Zhaoji two packs of cigarettes out of kindness.
After Liu Zhaoji took it and looked at it carefully, he found that the cigarettes were rolled into sticks with paper, twenty sticks in a small pack and sixteen small packs in a large pack.
Unlike ordinary cigarettes, these cigarettes have something stuffed inside one end.
Li Ruo Lian began to introduce: "This thing is called a filter. It contains carbon blocks and cotton, which can absorb the things that make people cough. The outside is linen to prevent carbon powder from being sucked into the mouth."
"Oh, that's how it is." Liu Zhaoji suddenly realized.
No wonder cigarettes are so popular, it turns out they have filters.
"But didn't the imperial court ban this thing? How did Zhou Shang get the chance to sell tobacco?" Liu Zhaoji asked.
"Don't ask. Asking too much will do you no good."
A few people had just divided up a box of tobacco when Li Banghua, the Minister of War and Prime Minister of the Cabinet, arrived.
He leaned on his crutch and blocked the door.
"Li Ruolian, Wang Zhixin, what do you mean?" Li Banghua's eyes were wide open with anger.
Li Ruo Lian pretended to be innocent: "Why do you say that, Lord Li?"
"Why do you say that?" Li Banghua pointed at the empty box and said angrily, "As far as I know, the production of this thing is very low. We can only make one box every two days. What should I do after you have divided it up?"
"I'm using this thing to keep myself alert!"
Li Ruolian had no choice but to look at other people.
These people knew they couldn't afford to offend Li Banghua, so after a brief discussion they gave him a few packs of cigarettes.
Li Banghua took the cigarette and left happily.
Liu Zhaoji was stunned.
After he recovered from his shock, he said to the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, I want to buy fifty packs of cigarettes."
......
In the blink of an eye it was already the end of June.
Chongzhen sat in the Qianqing Palace thinking about ways to make money.
From the initial fine salt, to the later soap, and then to the current cigarettes.
He made a lot of money.
The largest source of income for Fine Salt came from Zhou Kui’s buyout fee.
Zhou Kui was indeed unlucky. Due to the leak of the fine salt formula, the price of fine salt in the entire capital had dropped from one tael of silver for one tael of fine salt to one tael of silver for half a catty of fine salt.
The sale of soap has also been put on track, and almost all temples in northern Zhili and Shandong have started selling soap.
Those who pray to gods and Buddhas are not short of money, and the richer they are, the more they believe this.
According to estimates by the Imperial Guards, three thousand bars of soap could be sold each year in Northern Zhili and Shandong.
The income from this item alone can reach 150,000 taels of silver.
If it is promoted nationwide, the annual income is expected to reach over one million taels of silver.
Of course, cigarettes also came from Chongzhen's hands.
He added a filter to the cigarette following the method of later generations.
In fact, the filtering device is very simple, mainly made of carbon. Carbon can absorb harmful substances in the smoke, so the smoke he makes is not so choking.
Because it is easy to smoke, does not choke, and is relatively expensive, it is very popular among the gentry.
The most important thing is that he has monopolized this business.
If others want to sell, they can only do so secretly and cannot sell it openly.
The cigarette business does not make much profit each year, only a few hundred thousand taels.
All these revenues added together are still not enough to make up for the tax deficit.
Chongzhen also had to find a way to open up new trade routes.
"Your Majesty, great news! The eunuchs from the Armory Bureau have built the flying shuttle loom according to the drawings Your Majesty gave us."
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