Zhao Hui opens a general store in Yingtian Prefecture. There are just three items on the shelves: bottled water, instant noodles, and soft bread.
Half a month after opening, he still hasn't made a single sale.
Just as he reaches the point of despair, the shop door swings open. An old man in coarse clothes walks in, followed by a gentle-looking woman. Zhao Hui doesn't recognize them, but the System does. Its alert explodes in his mind: Host Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying identified. Make a sale immediately or the survival countdown will hit zero.
Zhao Hui picks up a cup of instant noodles and puts every ounce of acting talent he has into his pitch: “Free sample! Buy one, get one free!”
With that cup of noodles, he sets Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming Dynasty on a completely different course.
He gives binoculars to the frontier troops, and Xu Da and Tang He turn around and sell them for triple the price, then come back to demand a cut from Zhao Hui. Zhu Yuanzhang laughs in exasperation: “You old brothers of mine have no shame, even when you're poorer than me!” The nationwide agency rights for fine salt go up for auction in a brothel on the banks of the Qinhuai River. Merchants from thirteen provinces fight tooth and nail for them, while military officers corner the Minister of Revenue at court and yell, “Why haven't you released the army's pay so we can buy binoculars?” Zhao Hui offers the formula for cement to potential investors on one condition: “Want the formula? Fix the roads in your province first.”
Later, when two hundred thousand rebels in Yunnan lay siege to Kunming, Zhao Hui drives a Humvee straight into their camp. The heavy machine gun mounted on the roof sprays bullets, and claymore mines blast the enemy apart. The rebel leader sends someone to negotiate. Standing atop the city wall, Zhao Hui raises a megaphone and lays out his terms: “Ten taels per person. No haggling.”
After the war, Zhu Yuanzhang returns to the capital and stands at Kunming's city gate, staring at the shell casings scattered across the ground. After a long silence, he turns to Xu Da and says, “That kid... could he be my illegitimate son?”
This novel is also known as I Deal in Weapons in the Great Ming and Zhu Di: Is Nobody Going to Speak Up for Me?
Nice writing, keep up the good work