Lin Feng understood his situation. He was now in Haiming City in Tianjin at the end of the Ming Dynasty. His father, Lin Hong, was the governor of Tianjin. Lin Feng sighed and admitted his mistake to his family.
Father, can I open a shop? Lin Feng asked Lin Hong. " Let's go." Lin Hong nodded and agreed. When Lin Feng saw this, he immediately opened a shop.
Lin Feng walked out of the East City's Wellside Lane and walked casually on the East City's main street. Although the hygiene on the streets was very poor and most of the pedestrians were thin and short, there were still many well-dressed merchants and carriages on the road. Tianjin was considered a prosperous commercial city in this era.
Tianjin-Wei City was the gateway to the capital, an important town for transportation from the north to the south. If goods from the north and south were to be transported by sea, the Hai River north of Tianjinwei City was the only way to enter the capital by sea. If it was water transport, there was the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to the northwest of Tianjin-Wei City. The grain and rice needed by Jingdou and the northern army all depended on the south-to-north grain transfer. Whether it was by canal or sea, they had to sail the Haihe River or dock at Tianjin at night.
The Ming Dynasty would naturally send troops to protect such an important trading place. In the second year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty set up a city at the mouth of the Grand Canal. The river water surrounded the city and a fort was built to protect the city. Tianjinwei City is nine miles around. The city wall is about thirty-five feet high and twenty-five feet wide. It is open on all sides.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Tianjin had turned from a military base into a commercial hub.
Walking on the main street of the eastern city, he saw that both sides of the road were filled with shops. In the middle of the main street of the eastern city, there was a large market that specialized in trading southern silk and cotton cloth.
Seeing the textile market, Lin Feng thought of the flying shuttle and the Jenny spinning machine. Li Zhi knew how to make these simple textile machinery, but the textile industry had a large investment and a slow return. Obviously, it could not solve Li Zhi's family's current priority. Li Zhi walked back and forth along the street, but he didn't find any inspiration to become rich, so he walked back to the well.
Walking to the area near the well, Lin Feng saw a noodle shop on the side of the street. Li Zhi stopped in his tracks when he saw the snowflake steamed buns piled high at the entrance of the noodle shop.
Seeing these steamed buns, Lin Feng was delighted. He thought to himself, why didn't I notice these white steamed buns these days?
It was not that Lin Feng wanted to eat steamed buns, but that making steamed buns required soda ash, and soda ash was the key raw material for the fermentation reaction. In other words, since there were steamed buns in the late Ming Dynasty, it meant that there was soda ash in the Ming Dynasty. Li Zhi had an important material for making soap.
He was overjoyed and secretly thought that his first bucket of gold would be earned from this soda ash.
He walked into the steamed bun shop and shouted,"Waiter!"
"He's here!"
Hearing someone calling out, a waiter wearing a small hat came out to greet him. When he saw who it was, his face lit up."Young Master Lin Feng, do you want to eat steamed buns or noodles? You can't buy on credit!"
The waiter was a snob. When he saw Li Zhi enter the noodle shop, he thought that Lin Feng was going to eat and drink outside.
As the saying went, everyone pushed the wall down. Now that Lin Feng's family was in trouble, these snobs naturally would not let go of the opportunity to hit him when he was down. Lin Feng didn't argue with him. He wiped his face and said,"Chen Deyu, don't talk nonsense. I'm not here to eat! Where did you buy the soda ash in your shop? Bring me to buy some.”
The waiter thought that the dumb Lin Feng would be dumbfounded by his sarcasm, but he didn't expect to be lectured by Lin Feng. He couldn't help but be stunned. After a long while, he said loudly,"What soda ash? We don't have this!"”
"You don't have soda ash, so what do you use to distribute the steamed buns?" Lin Feng pointed at the steamed buns and asked.”
The waiter pursed his lips and said,"That's called basic noodles."
"So you guys are called Alkaline Noodles. I don't want to open a steamed bun shop. I want this soda flour. Tell me where you bought it.”
"I bought it on North Street!"
"Where on North Street? Bring me there!"
The waiter rolled his eyes and said disdainfully,"I'm busy and don't have time to play with you. Lin Feng, if you don't want to eat noodles, don't stand in the shop and block the road. The other customers can't even move!”
There was only one customer in the noodle shop eating steamed buns. How could there be anyone walking around? Lin Feng knew that this waiter had the habit of not waking up early without profit. He took out thirty copper coins from his pocket and said with a smile,"If you bring me to buy soda noodles, I'll give you thirty wen!”
That Chen Deyu only earned thirty copper coins in a day. When he saw the copper coins in Lin Feng's hand, his eyes lit up. He took the copper coin and said with a smile,"Lin Feng, you're not staying here today! Seeing that you are so sincere in buying it, I will help you and bring you there.”
There was nothing much to do in the shop. Chen Deyu told the shopkeeper and took Lin Feng to the North Street.
Tianjin-Wei City was prosperous, and even the houses in the alleys had shops. Moreover, the shops in the same neighborhood often sold the same thing. For example, Needle Market Street sold needles, while Guodian Street sold pots. Jingbian Square sold Nanyang goods.
Chen Deyu took Lin Feng and walked for fifteen minutes. They found a neighborhood in the north street that sold groceries from the north and south. They found an inconspicuous shop in the neighborhood. Chen Deyu pointed at it and said,"It's that shop. I'm going back. You can go buy it yourself!”
He pointed out the location of the shop and was about to leave. Lin Feng didn't leave Chen Deyu behind. He walked into the shop and saw an old man sitting in the shop dozing off. He said loudly,"I want four catties of soda noodles!"
Hearing Lin Feng's words, the half-asleep old man was shocked. However, although he woke up from his dream, he did not hesitate and immediately agreed,"I'm selling high-grade soda flour dug out from the Xiangyang mine. Four catties costs seventy-six wen!”
19 wen per jin of soda ash wasn't considered expensive. The price of soda ash was not expensive, so the cost of making soap would not be high. Lin Feng was happy and said with a smile,"Shopkeeper, I'm buying so much, please give me a discount!”
"That would cost at least 72 wen."
Only then did Lin Feng take out seventy-two copper coins from his pocket and hand them over to the old man. The old man slowly stood up from his chair and scooped out a few spoonfuls of white powder from a large jar. He weighed it on the scale, and the high end of the scale was exactly four pounds. The old man wrapped the soda ash in a thick piece of paper and tied it with a rope. It was wrapped like Chinese medicine before he handed it to Lin Feng.
Lin Feng was delighted to have easily bought the soda ash. He carried four catties of soda ash and walked out of the neighborhood.
;
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]