Chapter 10 Ticket Number (Part 2)

  "This is really true!" Zheng Shichang suddenly stood up, the difficult problem that had been entangled in his mind for more than two years was suddenly said to be solved by someone, and Zheng Shichang was a little overwhelmed. After standing up, he came to his senses and saw who the person in front of him was, and hastily apologized: "The old man is out of line, let the 14th Master see the joke."

  "It doesn't matter, Manager Zheng, please sit down and speak." Yinzhen smiled secretly in his heart, but his expression remained serious.

  Zheng Shichang quickly calmed down, as the person in front of him was a prince. If he wanted to invest in "Four Great Constants", there was no need to deceive himself. Moreover, although "Four Great Constants" seemed prosperous on the surface, it actually had its own difficulties, and every year's profits were used to pay interest on stored silver. In the past, officials had also invested, but soon discovered that investing was not as profitable as storing silver, and instead occupied funds, so they withdrew their shares. If this Fourteenth Master was willing to invest, it would be a blessing in disguise for himself. Thinking of this, he sincerely said: "I am grateful for the Fourteenth Master's appreciation of my humble abode. How could I not agree? Without deceiving you, sir, I have been racking my brains over the anti-counterfeiting and secrecy of the meeting tickets, but to no avail."

  "I'm absolutely sure this method will work." Xian Chen said confidently, "But I want to know, if the 'Four Great Constants' were to open up a ticketing business, how do you plan to expand this branch?"

  Upon hearing the 14th question, Zheng Shichang couldn't help but secretly praise him. Indeed, he was a member of the imperial family, and at such a young age, he was already so mature. This was a test of his own abilities. Fortunately, Zheng Shichang had long been thinking about the idea of opening up the ticket numbers, so he calmly replied: "There are four major gathering places in the world. In the north, it's the capital; in the south, it's Foshan; in the east, it's Suzhou; and in the west, it's Hankou. These four points must be opened up first, and then the next step will be Jiangning, Hangzhou, Baotou, and Yangzhou."

  "Haha, Zheng Zhanggui, your vision is a bit too narrow." Yunzheng stood up with a smile, waved his hand and said domineeringly: "What I want is to connect the whole world! At least, 'Si Da Heng' should have branches in every prefecture of the Qing dynasty!"

  Unify the world! Manager Zheng was stunned, even in his dreams he didn't dare think of this, could the 14th master be talking nonsense? Unifying the world is easy to say, but it requires a huge amount of manpower, material resources and financial resources. However, in his heart, he couldn't help but admire that the prince is indeed a prince, with such breadth of vision and grandeur, truly not something ordinary people can match.

  "What is the total share capital of 'Four Big Banks'?"

  "Ah." Zheng Shichang came back to his senses, looked at Yin Zhen who was staring at him, hesitated for a moment, but thinking of the benefits, he said decisively: "One hundred and twenty million."

  Yuan Zhen shook his head and whispered, "Too little."

  Zheng's mind was not at ease, and he couldn't help but grumble to himself. The 12 million was still short, but on the surface, he said: "In addition, there is another 15 million in savings, but these savings have an annual interest of 1.5 million that needs to be paid out."

  "That's about enough." Xuan Zhen nodded and said, "'Si Da Heng' is your family's business, right? Is there anyone else who has a stake in it?"

  Zheng Shichang said with some embarrassment: "This is not the case, they would rather save silver and are unwilling to buy shares. To be honest, the annual interest on savings basically swallows up all the profits."

  Yin Zhen couldn't help but ask another question, "Are there any hidden shares? Dry shares?"

  "No." Zheng Shichang thought to himself, those officials are all cunning like monkeys, they take bribes and embezzlement openly, who would want to do something that would give others a handle against them and not get any money out of it.

  "That's great! Having a lot of silver is a good thing, you'll soon be worried about not having enough silver in your hands." Yongzheng smiled and said: "I'll put out 200,000, plus my secret pressing technique, how many shares will you give me?"

  Two hundred thousand, less than two tenths of the total, but Zheng Shichang did not hesitate. "Fourteenth Master, if your anti-counterfeiting and secrecy measures are effective, do you think four tenths is feasible?"

  "Hehe." Yongzheng couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Zheng Shichang's heart chilled, four percent won't do? I'm biting my teeth to say this, if you want more, I'll shut down the 'Four Great Constants' for good. Just as he was steeling himself, he saw Yi Zhen stretch out two fingers, and his heart suddenly leapt with joy - did he only want two percent? His mind was filled with doubt when he heard Yi Zhen say in a low voice: "I'll give you two percent, I want eight percent."

  Zheng Shichang's face turned whiter than paper, this is not investing, it's robbery! If he agrees to this, his 12 million will immediately become 2.4 million, leaving him with only a fraction of the original amount. Is there still justice in this world? Even if it means risking his old life, he must go and file a complaint.

  "Don't be impatient." Yuen Cheung said slowly: "In two years, at most two years, the 'Four Great Constants' will be able to connect all under heaven. In every prosperous province of the Qing Dynasty, branches will be opened. Even if you only have a 20% share of the profits, I guarantee that your annual income will not be less than 200,000 taels, which is pure income."

  Zheng Shichang was stunned again upon hearing this. In just two years, Huitong Tianxia would be able to connect the whole country? Open branches in all prosperous provinces? If it could really reach such a level, 'Si Da Heng' would be the number one in the Qing dynasty's silver industry. The 2% profit would not be limited to just 200,000.

  "Even if I were to speak with a mouth full of lotus flowers, spouting nonsense, I'm sure Zheng Shichang wouldn't dare believe me. So here's the deal: I won't interfere with the 'Four Great Constants' business, nor will I let anyone else do so. You just focus on doing your thing, and I'll trust in your abilities and reputation. In the first year, we won't split any profits. In the second year, if your earnings are less than 200,000, then you can keep the 200,000 silver coins that I invested - but only if you do things my way."

  Saying that, Zheng Shichang couldn't sit still anymore. Since the 14th master was determined - had made up his mind, at least it showed he had a lot of confidence. The current situation of 'Si Da Heng', if they can't develop new business in the short term, closing down is only a matter of time. Why not treat a dead horse as if it were alive?

  Thinking of this, Zheng Shichang's adventurous spirit emerged again. How many times can one take a gamble in life? The current stalemate of the 'Four Great Constants' is not as good as taking a risk and betting everything. If he wins, he will have a bright future; if he loses, he will at least leave a legacy for his descendants. Having made up his mind, he knelt down shakily and said, "Fourteenth Master, from now on, the 'Four Great Constants' will be handed over to you."

  Although Rong Zhen was delighted in his heart, he didn't show it on his face and didn't call Zheng Shichang to wake up. He just said in a low voice: "Zheng boss, since you agreed, I'd like to make one thing clear. The 'Four Great Constants' that connect the world can't be supported by me alone. You should prepare your 2% stake mentally. However, I guarantee that at least 1% will be left for you, and of course, that 1% won't be free. Selling it for 5 million should be no problem."

  Zheng Shichang was initially frightened, then became furious. "You still won't let go!" When he heard the second half of the sentence, he was already stunned. Five hundred million taels to sell a 10% stake? Has the Fourteenth Master gone mad? Or did I hear it wrong?

  Seeing Zheng Shichang still kneeling on the ground, Yin Zhen smiled secretly and sat back behind the desk. "Get up, I'll tell you about the prevention of counterfeit tickets and confidentiality."

  In fact, the secret seal of Shanxi Piaohao is very simple. For example, use the five characters "Tian Di Jun Qin Shi" to replace the numbers "individual, ten, hundred, thousand, and ten thousand", and then use another ten characters to represent the numbers one to ten. Of course, there are other methods, such as: all the blank tickets with words on them were written by a fixed person, and then these pre-written blank tickets were distributed to each branch, and many secret marks can be made on these words.

  Yin Zhen carefully explained the basic principles of the secret code, and Zheng Shichang listened with wide eyes. Yin Zhen smiled and said: "This is just the basics. To keep it confidential and prevent others from deciphering it, we must make changes to it, such as adding some meaningless words or dividing the date into odd and even numbers, and then making changes based on that. Additionally, this code needs to be changed after a period of time. For old customers, we can also ask them to set their own passwords. You have three days to figure these things out and bring me a sample ticket. I still have some killer moves to teach you."