The most arrogant in history

Chapter 627: Winter drought.

Wu Qiong certainly didn't believe it:

"Your Majesty, your business makes money, as you said, because of the power of technology. But when it comes to building a house, there is no high technology that can make a good and cheap house, right?

If the houses are too expensive, they cannot be sold. If they are too cheap, they will lose money. In short, I don’t believe that the emperor can make money by building houses.”

Ye Kun nodded: "Master Wu, just wait and see. I am also an expert in economics without the need for high technology."

Wu Qiong chuckled and clasped his fists before saying goodbye.

Ye Kun returned to the imperial study and immediately called over several of his capable subordinates and his servants, announcing the establishment of a real estate development company and a royal bank.

The Royal Bank invested 1.8 million taels of silver, held a 90% stake, and handed it over to the court for operation.

The real estate company initially invested one million taels of silver to purchase a row of houses in Xicheng.

Ye Kun instructed his men: "When purchasing private houses, you must be reasonable, compliant and legal. Do not force a sale. Complete the formalities, sign a document and keep the title deed safe."

The subordinate asked, "At what price?"

"A little higher than the market price, buy a batch first. For those who don't want to sell later, slowly increase the price."

“What if someone doesn’t want to sell?”

"Don't worry about it for now. I will find a way when the time comes."

Ye Kun smiled and instructed Tan Bamao to plan construction land outside the city and have his own company plan the development.

Of course, when the emperor gets things done, everything goes smoothly and the efficiency is extremely high.

Three days later, all the procedures with the real estate company and the bank were completed.

The planning for construction land outside the city has also been released.

Ye Kun also found designers and craftsmen, made a budget for the project, and assessed the profits.

The budget result is that it is indeed not easy to make money according to the current housing prices!

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Do you know how much the housing prices in Zhuo County have increased in the past few years? The housing prices are very low now, but when we build it, it will not be this price anymore."

Once Xicheng is demolished, housing prices in other places will be raised, which will in turn drive up housing prices in the entire capital.

Making money, isn’t that a sure thing?

The house purchasing process went smoothly. In just three or five days, two hundred houses were acquired in Xicheng.

Ye Kun was not in a hurry and told the landlords that they could continue to live there and move out after the first month of next year. During this period, he did not want their rent.

The purchase price of the house has also increased slightly.

As a result, more people will sell their houses.

Because it is winter now, the temperature in Zhuo County is low and it is not suitable for work.

If construction starts now, the original homeowners will move out, which will cause housing shortages and push up housing prices, which will be detrimental to Ye Kun's continued purchase of homes.

The expansion work of the Science and Technology City has also completed its planning and started construction.

Ye Kun had nothing to do, so he continued to stay in the Science and Technology City, working on scientific and technological research.

The non-motorized vehicle factory built 700 rickshaws this time, all of which are high-tech products with stainless steel frames, spring shock absorbers, and rubber wheels.

Of these 700 vehicles, Ye Kun gave 20 each to Nanjing, Chengdu, Chang'an and Luoyang for official use.

Big cities like Xiangyang and Chongqing were also allocated three to five vehicles for the governors to use when traveling within the city.

There are still 300 vehicles that Ye Kun launched into the market and sold at cost price.

Although it was the cost price, a rickshaw was worth ten taels of silver, which was unaffordable for ordinary people.

The merchants in Zhuo County didn't care. They rushed forward and snatched away all 300 rickshaws.

Ye Kun saw that the time was right and issued an order:

In the inner city, except for official horse-drawn carriages, all animal-drawn vehicles are prohibited from entering, including cattle, horses, and mules.

This will greatly reduce the environmental sanitation pressure in the inner city.

Anyway, there are enough rickshaws to meet the daily travel needs of high-end people in the inner city.

The inner city mainly houses various government offices and the residents are all officials and there is not much demand for horse-drawn or ox-drawn carts.

Two hundred bicycles were also produced, but they were not sold to the public.

Ye Kun used this bicycle to form a bicycle patrol team, which went back and forth like the wind in the inner and outer cities.

There are many young people in the city who want to experience riding bicycles.

Ye Kun set up a bicycle experience center to teach young people how to ride a bicycle.

There are also three-wheeled flatbed trucks, which are all for sale, but the cost is relatively high, and only wealthy merchants and officials can afford them.

Pang Jia said with a smile: "Brother Emperor, it seems that our non-motor vehicles are not profitable either."

"This is your business. You should find ways to reduce production costs and increase sales. The market demand is huge. It depends on whether you can reduce costs."

"The production cost is here, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to reduce it."

"But technology is developing and will gradually reduce costs. For example, in the past, ordinary people could not afford iron tools, but now every household has iron pots and all kinds of iron tools."

"That's true. Let's think of a solution." Pang Jia nodded.

There is good news from the Clock and Watch Research Institute that they have developed a precision pendulum clock and have entered mass production.

The single pendulum clock was also made with the idea provided by Ye Kun, who personally conducted pendulum experiments and guided the craftsmen in its creation.

The core of a simple pendulum clock is an escapement mechanism. If you can figure this out, you'll be successful.

Ye Kun majored in mechanics and was no stranger to escapement mechanisms.

Some of the pendulum clocks produced this time also have the function of striking on the hour, which is refreshing.

Ye Kun went over to check it out himself and said with a smile, "Very good. The cost of this single pendulum clock is not too high. We can mass-produce it and put it on the market as soon as possible."

Pendulum clocks are relatively large and are suitable for fixed offices or home use.

Although not as small as a pocket watch, it is much more precise.

Pocket watches produced in the past were easy to break and had inaccurate time. Sometimes, the error could reach five or even ten minutes a day.

At the Nine Departments Conference, Ye Kun showed off the latest self-ringing clock and said with a smile:

"My Lords, this is a pendulum clock designed using the principle of a pendulum, and it has a self-sounding function. From now on, we can see the passage of every minute and every second. The old clepsydra and sundial can basically be put into museums."

clang……

As we were talking, the clock struck nine in the morning.

Everyone was amazed and gathered around to watch and discuss the situation.

Sang asked without question: "Your Majesty, how much is this self-ringing clock?"

"You don't have to spend money to buy it. Each person will be rewarded with one."

Ye Kun smiled and said, "The cost of making a self-ringing clock is not very high, about twelve taels of silver. But if we put it on the market, we have to buy one hundred and twenty taels. If we export it to foreign countries, we have to add another two hundred taels of tax!"

Wu Qiong laughed and said, "One hundred and twenty taels, ordinary people can't afford it."

"As usual, the first batch of products will be sold to the rich. I'll make a profit from them first, and then slowly lower the price to make it available to well-off families. Just like the glass mirrors back then, you all, I've made a lot of money from them."

Everyone laughed.

Ma Zhengyang said, "Your Majesty, you will still make a fortune from this self-ringing clock. I estimate that with a price of 120 taels, there will be 1,000 units sold in the capital alone. Selling 1,000 units will bring in a profit of more than 100,000 taels of silver."

Ye Kun smiled and said, "It is certain that we can make money. Otherwise, who will support our army? Who will pay us to build roads everywhere? Where will the money come from for disaster relief in various places?"

Upon hearing this, Sang Buyi clasped his fists and said:

"Your Majesty, speaking of disaster relief, what a coincidence. The Ministry of Revenue has just received an urgent report that the winter drought in Guanzhong is severe, and the wheat and rapeseed planted in the fall are almost dying."