Chapter 34: The Profiteer Young Master Liu

And at this moment.

What Liu Zheng absolutely did not expect was this.

Chen Kui, who had fled from Yinzhou, had not let the Liu Family father and son off the hook. It had already been a month; Chen Kui had first run to Liangzhou to seek help from Chen Batian.

Who would have thought that to his request, Chen Batian only angrily shouted: "Treason is a grave crime, and you dare to commit it? That Old Master Liu did not kill you is already a great stroke of luck. Behave yourself and live an honest life!"

Chen Kui was unwilling to accept this in his heart, and only then did he realize that Liu Dahao still held some prestige in the Liangzhou military back then. Although there was no direct relationship with Chen Batian, when Chen Batian was fighting the Xiongnu, he had lived off the grain and fodder donated by Liu Dahao, and he still felt very grateful to this former richest man in Liangzhou.

As for Chen Kui, he was a relative of Chen Batian's eight times removed, and since his crimes were already confirmed, Chen Batian was too lazy to bother with him.

Now, Chen Kui had already been in Yangzhou for half a month.

"Is Lord Lu willing to see me yet?"

He had come to seek help from Lu Zhengyi.

However, he had been staying at the Post House for half a month, yet he had not even caught a glimpse of Lu Zhengyi.

This made Chen Kui, who had always acted like a local despot, feel very angry.

The old steward said from the side: "Master, I am already smoothing things over, please wait a while longer..."

"Smoothing things over, smooth your ass!"

Chen Kui was so angry he smashed a wine pot and roared: "In the years when my Chen Family was powerful, these County Marquises were like children and grandchildren before this old master! Now, now..."

He sighed deeply.

His hatred for that Liu Family father and son, therefore, grew even deeper.

The old steward also helplessly lowered his head.

"Go tell that person who is smoothing things over, if I cannot see Lu Zhengyi tonight, I, Chen Kui, will return to Liangzhou tomorrow! If he doesn't want this one hundred thousand silver, there are plenty of people who do!"

Chen Kui snorted coldly.

This time he had brought one hundred thousand in Silver Notes, which was his last remaining fortune, all to beg Lu Zhengyi to send troops to help him level Yinzhou! Once the Chen Family returned to Yinzhou, wouldn't one hundred thousand taels of silver be easy to get back?

"Very well, Master!"

The steward went down.

"Hahahaha, is Master Chen getting impatient?"

Who would have thought that before the steward had even left the door, several people walked in, and the leader was none other than the County Marquis of this Yangzhou City, Lu Zhengyi!

Chen Kui sneered in his heart, but walked over with a fawning expression on his face: "Commoner Chen Kui, greets Lord Lu!"

Lu Zhengyi hurriedly helped him up and sighed: "Master Chen is too polite. The Chen Family and my Yangzhou have always been as close as flesh and blood. When Yangzhou was in trouble back then, the Chen Family's elite troops helped a great deal, and Lu Zhengyi has always kept it in mind!"

Chen Kui laughed it off, but in his heart he was cursing: If you keep it in mind, why did you leave me out here to dry for half a month?

The few people laughed hypocritically and took their seats one after another.

Lu Zhengyi asked a question he already knew the answer to: "What is Master Chen here for this time?"

Chen Kui immediately knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly: "Lord Lu must make the decision for me! That Liu Family father and son are too bullying! They destroyed my Chen Family's foundation, ransacked my Chen Family, and are trying to exterminate us! I see that the County Marquis has no small ambition, Lord Lu must make preparations early!"

"The Liu Family father and son?"

Lu Zhengyi was stunned, then laughed loudly: In fact, he had long heard about Chen Kui's home being ransacked, and he also knew about that Liu Family father and son, having dealt with them himself before.

After several exchanges, he knew that Liu Dahao was nothing but a straw bag, but that young master of the Liu Family was quite remarkable.

So he narrowed his eyes and asked: "What does Master Chen mean?"

Chen Kui raised his head and said loudly: "The Chen Family is willing to offer one hundred thousand taels of silver to request Yangzhou's command to help my Chen Family return to Yinzhou!"

"One hundred thousand taels?"

Lu Zhengyi took a deep breath.

He had ignored this Chen Kui for half a month precisely because he was waiting to sell at a high price. From the five thousand taels originally promised to hire three thousand Yangzhou Army, to the current one hundred thousand taels...

Who wouldn't be tempted?

However.

Lu Zhengyi knew that the troops of Yangzhou were not that great either.

In fact, when the Liu Family father and son passed through this Yangzhou, the entire Yangzhou Garrison was only one thousand. Later, after Liu Zheng repelled the Bandits, many nearby Bandits lost their organization and came to surrender one after another, which was how they barely managed to scrape together three thousand Garrison for Yangzhou. Plus, because Lu Zhengyi had merit in suppressing bandits, Liangzhou Governor Chen Ping issued a reward, and only then could Yangzhou barely afford to support these three thousand Garrison.

"This..."

Lu Zhengyi was very tempted, but at the same time very troubled.

Chen Kui immediately said: "Lord Lu, rest assured, I will hire another two thousand elite troops from Liangzhou; with five thousand troops and horses, Yinzhou can surely be taken!"

"Oh?"

Lu Zhengyi beamed with joy: "This matter can indeed be discussed at length."

Chen Kui cursed the old fox under his breath; he knew Lu Zhengyi was the type who wouldn't release the hawk until he saw the rabbit, so he immediately took out the Silver Notes.

With this one hundred thousand silver, Lu Zhengyi could continue to recruit soldiers and add to his Weaponry and Equipment.

As one wanes, the other waxes.

Only then would there be a possibility of taking Yinzhou!

Lu Zhengyi's eyes flickered.

He had heard that the Liu Family young master in Yinzhou had concocted several types of fine wine and earned a fortune, so how could he not be tempted?

As for official matters.

He already had a secret Han from the Governor: "Observe his character, correct his actions, and when necessary, act at your own discretion!"

This was equivalent to an Imperial Sword, to execute first and report later, and he could easily fabricate a crime for him.

In this way.

Once this mere lawless land of Yinzhou was conquered, who would come to care?

Lu Zhengyi's calculations were quite good.

Meanwhile, in Yinzhou.

Liu Zheng was still busy with his own research and development.

His perfume production workshop was not called a perfume workshop, but a "Daily Chemical Workshop"! This term, which had never appeared in this era, left many people scratching their heads.

That's right.

What Liu Zheng was making this time was not just perfume, but many other daily chemical products!

And these daily chemical products could actually be produced alongside the perfume. While working on the perfume, Liu Zheng felt that in a place like Liangzhou, where the climate and environment were not great, there was something else worth making.

That was Snow Cream...

Hmm, it sounds very retro.

But in this era, it was quite advanced.

Skin Care Product!

Who had ever seen such a thing?

The Method for making Snow Cream was actually quite simple. Oil materials could include coconut oil, olive oil, beeswax, essential oils, and water.

Hmm, the Snow Cream was ready.

What about the Soap?

Since he was going to do it, he might as well do it all together!

Because since they were daily chemical products, it was inevitable that they would require the same substance: lye! Soap needed lye, and Snow Cream also needed lye.

The production of lye was not complicated; it could be filtered out using wood ash and water.

The entire workshop was originally a rather complex yet interconnected assembly line. And all these complex things had to be completed by Liu Zheng alone—at least, until others mastered them, he was the one doing it. Therefore, Liu Zheng had already drawn up the blueprints for such a large workshop.

Several Distillers, several machines for making lye, several cooling containers—this massive amount of work had kept Liu Zheng from sleeping for days and nights.

There were also various molds, as well as the production of bottles and jars.

"It's done!"

Four days later, Liu Zheng, sporting panda eyes, burst into laughter.

These daily chemical products could really be made!

Why? Because in the past few days, Liu Zheng had made a discovery that surprised him. That was, while he was making the Snow Cream, failures would occur due to issues with thickness... However, those failed products, in his hands, turned into another kind of product. Simply put, the thinner ones could be used as Skin Care Product, the thicker ones could be used as Lip Balm, and by adding some color, they could be used as Lipstick!

This suddenly reminded Liu Zheng of a joke.

It says, what business is a guaranteed profit? Making tofu; if it turns out well, sell tofu; if it turns out hard, sell bean curd sheets; if it turns out thin, sell soy milk; if it doesn't sell, come back and make stinky tofu—a guaranteed profit!

These daily chemical products were actually quite similar!

After tossing and turning for a few days, he had actually managed to create Snow Cream, Lip Balm, and Skin Care Product!

The other craftsmen who were sleeping all gathered around one after another.

"Young Master, what are all these?"

"It smells so good!"

"Is this soap?"

The craftsmen couldn't understand any of it, because before them were bottles and jars of all sizes, and the colors were very different.

Liu Zheng chuckled and said: "Soap? Something like that! Let me go to Fengming Tower first, and I'll teach you when I get back!"

Although he had been teaching these craftsmen the entire process these past few days, they certainly couldn't master it before the actual finished products came out. But there was no rush; what Liu Zheng wanted to see now was the expression on Zheng Yue Ru's face!

Giddy up!

It was afternoon, and Fengming Tower hadn't opened yet, but it was the time for those entertainers to wake up.

"Sister Lianxiang, the weather has been so dry lately! Look, my lips are cracked!"

"Yes, it's so dry even when it snows; I really can't get used to the weather in Yinzhou. When I first arrived in Yinzhou, my lips were cracked! I was almost returned by Miss Zheng! Just thinking about it is scary; if they didn't want me here, I would only be sent to the frontier to serve those military men."

"When will I ever save enough silver to redeem myself?"

"Quick, little Xiaoyu, the wind is picking up, come back quickly! Otherwise, our faces won't be fit to be seen in a while!"

Liu Zheng walked into Fengming Tower and couldn't help but shake his head when he heard these discussions.

The climate in Liangzhou was indeed a bit unbearable. Therefore, the skin of the people here was not very good and was very rough.

As soon as Liu Zheng arrived, the shopkeeper, Lao Cuitou, immediately sent someone to invite Zheng Yue Ru.

When Zheng Yue Ru heard that Liu Zheng had come, she ran over impatiently. Seeing these bottles and jars on the tea table, she was stunned and smiled bitterly: "Brother Liu, is this your Ancient Thorn Water?"

"It seems there are quite a few varieties?"

She laughed.

She actually didn't have high expectations for Liu Zheng's Ancient Thorn Water.

Liu Zheng, however, stopped Zheng Yue Ru from reaching out to examine them closely and looked at her with a smile: "Miss Zheng, it's not just Ancient Thorn Water; I accidentally tinkered with some other gadgets, but for this, we have to renegotiate..."

"What?"

Zheng Yue Ru said unhappily: "Brother Liu, the seven-tenths profit share needs to be renegotiated? Why be so greedy?"

Liu Zheng shook his head and explained: "The products are different, so naturally the split is different. For Ancient Thorn Water, it will still be a three-seven split, but for the others, it will be different."

"Oh?"

Zheng Yue Ru looked over in confusion.

Liu Zheng sighed.

This was also a matter of no choice. These various Skin Care Product formulas with beeswax lip balm could not be stored for a long time, so to make a profit from mass production, they certainly couldn't compare to perfume. But after all, something is better than nothing, and these were things Liu Zheng had developed specifically for his own territory of Yinzhou, so these were considered secondary products. Unlike high-end luxury goods like perfume, these skin care products could only follow a middle-market route.

Because of the backward storage, transportation, and logistics conditions of this era, these daily chemical products could probably only circulate within Liangzhou.

Therefore.

Since there was no major impact from logistics costs, why couldn't he ask for more?

He discovered that he was becoming more and more like a profiteer.

Zheng Yue Ru was furious, looking at Liu Zheng coldly for the first time.

Why didn't I know sooner that you were this kind of person?