Established in 1919

  "I, your humble servant, wish to set a good example by establishing a company." Shang Wen said cautiously.

  "The... this..." King Qin hesitated for a moment before continuing.

  Shang Wen took the opportunity to say: "If Your Majesty wants to enrich the country and strengthen the army, there is only this way to go. However, before taking this path, there will definitely be many difficulties. After I, your humble minister, take the lead, it will be to let all the civil and military officials see a new way out. Please, Your Majesty, consider this carefully?"

  "Beloved! What is this company?" Qin Wang was slightly inclined towards his own side. This made things easier to say.

  "A company is similar to a business. It can be opened by one person or multiple people. The scope of operation is vast..." Shang Wen hadn't finished speaking when Qin Wang interrupted him.

  "What does it mean to have multiple people? Multiple people starting is equivalent to investing, so everyone contributes funds. According to the proportion of shares held, a representative person is elected to manage the company. If this person performs well, they continue; if not, they are removed. All rights are exercised at the shareholders' meeting, and the representative only has management rights. As long as all shareholders receive their annual dividend at year-end, that's enough. And if operations go well, there will also be a distribution of profits." Qin Wang nodded in understanding.

  "Our great Qin has never had an official who did business while in office, nor after leaving office. This is what I have considered. However, I am determined to do this groundbreaking thing. I approve it. Additionally, I will invest 100 catties of gold. Do a good job. I want to see dividends by the end of the year! Return to the palace." King Qin returned with a flourish.

  Shangwen and Meng Tian, along with a group of attendants, respectfully escorted the King of Qin away. Meng Tian approached and said: "I don't know what you plan to do, sir, but I'm willing to follow you. The 100 catties of gold that the king rewarded me with, I'll contribute it all. Please accept my offer."

  "Monten, you're my lifesaver. From now on, don't call me Mr. anymore. Just call me Shangwen or something else. Besides, since you didn't mention the investment, I was going to bring it up anyway. Let's discuss how to handle this matter." Shangwen pulled Monten into the house.

  "I think so, I think this company should start with the invention of paper pens and lighters, these most common things. Then, as our technology upgrades and transforms, we will involve some new fields. What do you think?" Shang Wen said.

  "It's all up to Mr. Quan to arrange." Meng Tian said

  "Well, if not like this, you go to handle the relevant procedures and rent a shop. I'll go improve the machine. Gather the workers together. What do you think?"

  Shang Wen said.

  "Alright...I'll go take care of it." Meng Tian turned around and left.

  At this time, Shang Wen also began to plan. After all, he was a big shot in the arms company. Now, he could only produce some small gadgets, which really didn't make any sense. The future path would be to cooperate with Qin Jun. Just like how later generations cooperated with the US military, there were countless benefits. With his mind made up, Shang Wen set his sights on the Great Qin's armory workshop.

  However, there are still some minor things to do, which is to modify the steam engine. A large-scale upgrade and renovation will be carried out. The main focus is on the precision of sealing and gear connection parts. Speaking of precision, Shang Wen almost forgot that there is also some lubricating oil extracted from the fierce fire oil. This is a good thing.

  Design a few small-scale modified parts and hand them over to the blacksmith for processing. Shangwen began to apply lubricating oil to the gears. Arrived at the warehouse, also known as the side house, Shangwen found the lubricating oil and prepared to apply it to the steam engine. Meng Tian had already returned.

  "Sir, it's all been taken care of." Meng Tian obviously rushed back quickly.

  "Sir, let's go take a look at the storefront now, everything is ready-made. I saw a wine shop and directly took it over. It just needs to be slightly renovated." Meng Tian continued to say.

  "That's it, don't rush today, you take people to sort things out. Tomorrow sell some paper and pens first, then sell lighters. I'll modify the machine today. You go ahead and busy yourself, I'll design the drawings." Shang Wen turned around and walked into the house.

  Meng Tian also knew that Shang Wen was a very busy person. When he got busy, everything else would be neglected. So he just focused on other things.

  Shang Wen returned to the house, first separating the design drawings of the lighter's outer casing. Then, he found several different ironwork shops to make them separately. Next, he used machinery for processes such as compressing cotton and grinding fire wheels. The rest were assembled by hand, after all, there were still many people now, and machine manufacturing was not yet mature in many places.

  That's right, add another process. Polish and glaze, then apply a layer of blue glaze. With this appearance, it's done. First do it like this, later after inventing the stamping machine, carve several versions. Stamp them out. The appearance will definitely be beautiful. It can't help but make a fortune.

  There are also some technologies in papermaking and other crafts that can be contracted out to others, but some core technologies still need to be processed by themselves. They are modern people and bigwigs who cooperate with the military. Being able to cooperate with the military for a long time is to maintain a certain technical advantage. Without this, it's hard to guarantee. Now we must establish such awareness.

  The design drawings were distributed. Meng Tian also returned. Shang Wen made a plan in his heart and discussed it with Meng Tian. Then Meng Tian went to make arrangements, while Shang Wen went to modify the machine.

  The second day, Shang Wen got up very late. To modify the machine is a big deal. Now there's only one person, no group of scientific researchers. It seems that I have to find a reliable person to cultivate some technical backbone by myself.

  "Shangwen, come quickly! Shangwen." This voice was Meng Tian's.

  Meng Tian rushed to Shang Wen's front, panting and saying: "It was a success! The paper and pen sold out quickly. As per your instructions, we limited the quantity and sold them at a low price. They were in short supply soon after, and the things we made overnight yesterday are almost sold out now. Especially...". Meng Tian took big breaths, his face filled with excitement.

  Shang Wen had long known in his heart that it would definitely sell well. Now what needs to be done is to develop new products. This was what Shang Wen thought in his heart.

  "Now a lighter can buy a gold bar. This is simply daylight robbery."

  Cough, Shang Wen didn't expect that either. A lighter costs as much as a gold bar. What concept is this? Shang Wen wasn't clear how many grams of gold a gold bar was, but he didn't think the price would be so outrageous. Heh heh, Shang Wen revealed an awkward smile. It's too unimaginable. The people of ancient times were even more crazy than modern people. Crazy people of ancient times.

  "Shang Wen, Shang Wen." Meng Tian thought that Shang Wen might be stunned. Or maybe he was so excited that he couldn't stop shaking Shang Wen's arm.

  Shang Wen also felt his arm hurt. He just came back to himself and asked: "How many lighters are left now?"

  "Yesterday night, I made eighty of them. When I came, more than fifty had been sold. As for the rest, I don't know what happened to them, I let Meng Zhi take care of that." said Meng Tian.

  "Old master, old master." A loud and clear voice came from afar and got closer to Shang Wen's ears.