When County Magistrate Cheng heard this, he signaled for his subordinates to keep quiet and listened carefully. The speaker sounded like a male duck, which was not very comfortable to listen to.
"What Mr. Wang said is right, but it depends on how you calculate it. If you only calculate one year's worth, you will lose money. But since you sold the seeds, you can keep some for next year's harvest. You can spend a lot of money to plant the seeds for countless years. So it's still a big profit.
Besides, the price you gave is too low. A dou of rice is not a dou of millet. How can you buy it with ten copper coins? Unless you sell it to other grain stores, but you and I have our own grain stores. Which one of us doesn't have some means to get some land? As long as you plant it, you can sell grain and seeds if you want. "
Hearing this, it should be Mr. Jin who said it. County Magistrate Cheng nodded. He agreed with this person's words. Some people on the other side also agreed.
"Mr. Jin is right. The two of them in Zhuangzi can't sell the seeds too far away. They just want to make more money this year. Next year, we don't know who will get the money. If Mr. Wang doesn't want to buy, you can discuss it with the Mi family. Maybe when the Mi family succeeds, they will give you some seeds for free."
"Humph, what is the Mi family? They are just a small firm. Do I need to curry favor with them? At worst, I will find a way myself. "
When Mr. Wang heard this, his tone changed. He was no longer gloating. Instead, he was a little angry.
That person didn't seem to want to let him go so easily. He said, "Mr. Wang is really powerful, but I don't know if his men are as powerful as that Mr. Liu. In just a few years, the Mi family went from a small shop to what it is now. They have six grain stores. There are two in the capital and four in other places. "
"Let's talk about it later. Maybe the Mi family will suffer a loss this time. Let's drink. Let's not talk about it." Mr. Wang didn't want to be entangled in this kind of thing. As long as he was involved, he wouldn't talk about it.
"Alright, let's eat, let's eat. It's almost noon now. It seems that the Mi family will be here in the afternoon. Let's go and watch the show then. We'll see who wins and loses the 9000-shi old grain."
Another person tried to smooth things over. For a moment, there was only the sound of eating and chatting. No one talked about the seed anymore.
Seeing that he could not hear anything else, County Magistrate Cheng also began to eat slowly. His attendant was in charge of serving the food and pouring wine for him. Only when he was free would he be able to take a bite. This was already good enough for him. If it were others, they could only stand aside.
"County Magistrate, are you free today? Just now, I was discussing the matter of the advertisement with someone and was delayed. Today, Zhuangzi sent some tremella over. They're not for sale, they're specifically giving it to a few of the restaurant's shopkeepers. In a moment, I'll have someone cook it with camellia and bring it over for Daren. It'll be just nice to cool off the summer heat. "
When County Magistrate Cheng and his attendant were eating, the shopkeeper of the restaurant hurried over. Hearing that he would cook the tremella in a moment, County Magistrate Cheng knew that the tremella had already been cooked before he came. He smiled and said,
"You don't have to be so polite. You work for a good master and can even eat tremella. It's a good life."
"You're right, Daren. It's really a good life. Not to mention the high salary, we usually send the good things here to each shopkeeper to take back. Daren't you coming here today to see what's going on between the Mi family and the master?"
The shopkeeper didn't regard himself as an outsider. He was used to seeing the county magistrate all the time. Every time he went back and told his two concubines at home, they would look at him with admiration.
While speaking, the shopkeeper filled County Magistrate Cheng's wine cup and said, "Daren, I'm not sure either. It's said that the master is very powerful, but how can we trick them when it's obviously a matter of losing money?"
"What's so powerful about it? There's already a middleman's place, yet he still wants to make such a big advertisement. With such an advertisement, who would be stupid enough to go to the middleman's place to look for business? "The attendant was also worried. He was a little resentful that iron did not live up to his expectations, so he whispered at the side.
The shopkeeper didn't care. He smiled and explained to him, or to County Magistrate Cheng, "I thought so too at first. Later on, I realized that it's not that simple. There's only one Kongming lantern for the advertisement. When it's good enough, we'll make a lot of them.
When those people can't get the advertisement, they'll naturally go to the intermediary. Moreover, Young Master Song said that I'll be the one to discuss the advertisement this time. In the future, this matter will be handed over to the intermediary. If the intermediary has other tricks that they haven't shown, we'll know when the time comes. "
"Yes, that's right. I always thought that Zhangjia Zhuangzi wouldn't do things so simply. They would always leave a backup plan. When people feel that they're taking advantage of them, they're also making money. Just now, I asked you to come over to ask about the advertisement. You should continue with your work."
County Magistrate Cheng was relieved. Since they said that they weren't in a hurry, there wouldn't be any mistakes. When the time came, they could make a few hundred taels of silver a day. Even if they valued the lanterns a little more, with one tael of silver a day, they could still make nine taels of silver. After all, the place belonged to them.
If they didn't count the lanterns, fifty a day, they would still have more than four hundred taels of silver. That would be four thousand taels of silver in ten days. What about a month? Wasn't this a little too scary?
The shopkeeper had already stood up. When he saw County Magistrate Cheng calculating, he said, "Sir, I know that you're calculating the monthly profit. In fact, it's not that much. This advertisement has been agreed upon, and you have to pay taxes. After paying twenty percent of the tax, you still have to buy a new boat and make arrangements.
You saw those people who buy Liangpi and Jianbing Guo. Their Liangpi and oil have to go to Zhuangzi to buy them. Everyone buys them once. Zhuangzi only earns a few copper coins. The lanterns can't be advertised all the time. As long as a certain scholar writes something good, he has to write it on the lanterns. "
"Yes, that's true. When the novelty dies down, the price of the Kongming lanterns can't be the same. The merchants in the various fleets will naturally make lanterns on their own boats. Who else would be willing to spend such a high price?"
County Magistrate Cheng also knew that it wasn't easy to do business here. The purpose of paying taxes was to let the government take care of them. There couldn't be too many Kongming lanterns. Otherwise, if they blocked each other, who would be able to see them?
After the shopkeeper left, the attendant asked softly, "Sir, do you really think that they won't make money?"
"How can they not make money? These shopkeepers who were hired from other places at high prices are all shrewd. They say one thing, but they think another. "County Magistrate Cheng picked up his wine cup and finished it in one gulp.
"Then won't the Zhang family become the richest family in Tang in a few years?" The attendant calculated the money and said in surprise.
"Dream on! It's their first year doing this. Others may not know, but won't they learn? There are so many rivers. Smart people will do what they want. When we came here just now, there were already people who specially paddled small boats and hawked on the river. The river doesn't belong to the Zhang family. If they get a few big boats, advertise, and buy food, the money will be less and less.
How many rich people do you know? Do you know how much money they have? Any one of those big families can use money to bury Zhangjia Zhuangzi. The bigger the business, the more people they will offend, and the more places they need to take care of. "
While County Magistrate Cheng was satisfied with Zhangjia Zhuangzi's speed of making money, he was also worried about them. He didn't know how many pairs of eyes were watching them.
*****
No one knew who spread the news of Zhangjia Zhuangzi's loss this time. Just after noon, many people came here. They wanted to see how the Zhuangzi, who bought this place and took advantage of it, would deal with it this time.
There were some businessmen, some craftsmen who had nothing to do, and some people who came here to sell snacks. The sky was still so cloudy. No one knew when the heavy rain would fall. The people who specialized in selling umbrellas looked up at the sky from time to time, hoping that the rain would get heavier and heavier.
After lunch, County Magistrate Cheng floated on the river with his attendant again. There were already many people waiting on the river. There were too many people on the shore, so it was a bit crowded. As a result, the space in the river seemed a bit narrow. They needed to make way for the cargo boat. Fortunately, County Magistrate Cheng had foresight. He was wearing an official's robe, so no one dared to let the boat squeeze him.
While everyone was waiting, a cloud of dust rose in the distance. A few horses were running in the front, followed by three well-decorated carriages. There was a flag on the side of the carriages with the word "Mi" written on it.
Here they come. When everyone saw this situation, they knew that the Mi family's business people had arrived. They began to look for Song Jinggong. Usually, the people here already knew the person in charge of this place.
When the Mi family's team came close, the people in the crowd made way for them to cross the bridge.
When the team stopped, people from the first two carriages jumped off. When the others stood still, the door of the middle carriage was opened. Two people came out. One was Mister Mi, and the other was his think tank, Liu.
"Look, there are so many people. Brother Liu, we are really in the limelight this time. Have you arranged the people to spread the news?"
Mister Mi got off the carriage. Looking at the cloudy sky, he was in a good mood. He clasped his hands behind his back and said to the person next to him.
"Don't worry, Mister. In a moment, they will spread the news and let everyone here know." Liu Zhicai had a well-thought-out appearance.
At this time, Song Jinggong also knew. He walked out of a nearby shop. He didn't have such a big entourage. He was only followed by two people who did odd jobs. He quickly walked over and said to Boss Mi, "Forgive me, we came out a little late. Boss Mi is indeed a man of his word. He said that he would come in the afternoon and arrived in the afternoon."
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