My eunuch godfather

Chapter 73 Monopolistic Procurement

Before Wang Daofei entered the villa, Wang Wei still held onto a sliver of hope, thinking that Zhang Kun was merely Xu Bengao's confidant.

After all, Zhang Kun looked to be under twenty, not much older than Wang Wei who was sixteen this year, and his official rank was only fifth grade.

But seeing Zheng Yuanze introduce Zhang Kun to Wang Daofei, and Wang Daofei's respectful attitude towards Zhang Kun, Wang Wei felt as if she were in an ice cave.

Wang Wei's fame was all built up by the brothel with money, and the real owners behind the scenes were these big salt merchants.

If you offend a VIP guest who is the mastermind behind the scenes, and that VIP guest holds a grudge, it's not something that can be easily resolved with just an apology!

Seeing Jiang Guozhu, Zheng Zhiyan and other big salt merchants enter the villa one after another and invite Zhang Kun to the head seat, Wang Wei felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

Zheng Yuanze dismissed the maid who had prepared tea and snacks from the courtyard, noticing that Wang Wei's expression was off.

He quickly approached and lowered his voice, saying, "Mr. Xiuwei?"

"Ah! I'm sorry, Mr. Huidong,"

After regaining her composure, Wang Wei apologized to Zheng Yuance, saying, "I will go and treat you to a meal now."

Upon arriving at the tea table, Wang Wei poured tea for everyone present, first offering it to Zhang Kun, who was seated at the head of the table, saying, "Please, please have some tea."

Zhang Kun smiled slightly, took the teacup from Wang Wei, took a small sip, and praised, "Good tea."

After several rounds of tea, Zhang Kun addressed the assembled salt merchants, asking:

"How big do you all think this tampons business can grow?"

Zheng Zhiyan was the first to speak, replying to Zhang Kun:

"In my humble opinion, tampongolica in the south sells for about five or six million taels of silver each year."

Although the North and Southwest are not as wealthy as the South, they can still fetch around three to four million, totaling over eight million?

"Master Zheng underestimated the situation."

Zhang Kun shook his head and solemnly declared to the assembled salt merchants:

"Nowadays, tampoo is too expensive. A pound of dried leaves can sell for one tael of silver in the north, and only the upper class can afford it."

In my opinion, Danbagu (a type of rice noodle) could rival the market value of tea and wine, generating over 2000 million taels annually!

The wealthy salt merchants present exchanged bewildered glances, feeling that Zhang Kun's promises were far too grandiose.

Salt was the most important commodity among all trades, and the market size of the Lianghuai salt industry was only 2000 million taels.

"Of course, there are advantages to being expensive."

Zhang Kun changed the subject, promoting the cultivation of wild rice to the wealthy salt merchants present, and advised them:

"One mu of land can produce at least seventy or eighty jin of dried leaves, which can be sold for seventy or eighty taels in the north!"

In the south, dried leaves cost seven or eight qian of silver per jin, which is equivalent to fifty or sixty taels of silver, dozens of times more than growing grain!

The Jin Yun shipyard has leased over 6,000 mu of land in the capital and Tianjin, which will generate over 400,000 taels of silver in revenue by next year!

Hearing this, Wu Yangchun, who had been abandoned by Zhang Kun in Huai'an, couldn't help but speak up:

"With spring planting and autumn harvest, does that mean the Nanjing Jinyun ship won't open until next year?"

"Of course we won't postpone it until next year."

Zhang Kun presented the following conditions to the prominent salt merchants present:

"Gentlemen, if the Nanjing Jinyun ship is to be successfully launched, it must secure all the fresh rice harvested last autumn in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang."

Therefore, after the Nanjing Jinyun ship opened, it would purchase large quantities of tampons in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang!

If any of you wish to participate, then we shall exchange goods for shares: 10,000 catties for 1 cent of dry share!

To enhance his persuasiveness, Zhang Kun assured the assembled salt merchants:

"The Nanjing Jinyun ship has 30 taels of silver on hand, all of which will be used to purchase tampons!"

If you are worried that the Nanjing Jinyunhao cargo will not sell, Jinyunhao can guarantee this and take all of the Nanjing Jinyunhao's cargo!

Before the price of tampongolica rose to two taels of silver, it was profitable to transport it to the north via the Jin Yun ship!

"The Jin Yun ship still has 50 taels of silver in its accounts!"

The wealthy salt merchants present exchanged bewildered glances once more. Zhang Kun was actually going to spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to buy up all the goods!

It should be noted that as the key merchants of the Lianghuai salt industry, their net worth was only a few million, including a large amount of real estate.

Burning hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in cash to wage a business war was a scale they had never seen before.

This guy is just bragging, isn't he?

In fact, Zhang Kun only had less than 120,000 taels of silver, of which more than 40,000 taels were fines imposed in Tianjin for cracking down on smuggling.

Another 50,000 taels were sent by Zheng Zhiyan's eldest son, Zheng Yuance, who only took a little over 20,000 taels with him when he left the capital.

"Most of you don't believe me, so let's do this."

Zhang Kun smiled and said to the wealthy salt merchants present:

"If you do not want to exchange goods for shares, for example, if the market price is eight qian, Nanjing Jinyun Company will purchase them at a price of nine qian of silver per catty."

The market price will definitely rise, but before it reaches two taels, Nanjing Jinyunhao will continue to raise the price so that everyone can always make a profit.

What do you all think of this point?

The prominent salt merchants present all wanted to participate in the salt business of Nanjing Jinyun Shipping Company, and were impressed by the generous terms offered by Zhang Kun.

Even if you feel it's not very reliable, you should still express your approval on the surface.

Wang Wei grew increasingly alarmed as she listened; that was three hundred thousand taels of silver!

Even if he were to be sold by the brothel, he would only fetch a maximum of 1,500 or 1,600 yuan.

And this young man in front of me, just by chatting and laughing, settled such a big deal!

After the tea party ended, Wang Wei, filled with anxiety, approached Zhang Kun and said weakly:

"Commander Zhang, my daughter was very disrespectful just now, please..."

"Has Mr. Xiuwei been busy these past few days?"

Zhang Kun ignored Wang Wei, turned to Zheng Yuance beside him, and smiled:

"During my stay in Yangzhou, I would like to ask Mr. Xiuwei to be my guide and explain the scenic spots and historical sites of Yangzhou."

Zheng Yuanze didn't even glance at Wang Wei, and directly and respectfully agreed to Zhang Kun:

"Commander Zhang, Mr. Xiuwei will be staying at Yingyuan tonight."

......

After the tea party at the Guanglingguan villa, Nanjing Jinyunhao continued to purchase raw bamboo shoots through major salt merchants.

To increase speed and reduce costs, Nanjing Jinyun said it could "buy futures".

The salt merchants purchased raw bamboo shoots simultaneously through their branches and stores in various prefectures and counties of Southern Zhili and Zhejiang.

Pay half the price upfront, and the other half upon the arrival of the tampons in Yangzhou, along with the transportation costs.

Considering the limited cash available at branches and stores in various prefectures and counties, they also requested that major salt merchants "pay in kind".

In other words, the profits that should have been handed over to the major salt merchants every ten days, every month, or every quarter were directly offset by the purchase of raw salt.

In just over ten days, the Nanjing Jinyun ship purchased more than 20 taels of raw salt through the commercial networks of major salt merchants!

Most of these were purchased from various prefectures and counties, and major salt merchants would also exchange them for a certain amount of shares.

Zhang Kun actually spent less than 8 taels of silver to purchase 25 catties of raw bamboo shoots!

It should be noted that during the Ming Dynasty, the annual output of danbagu (a type of wild rice) was approximately three million catties.

More than three months have passed since the autumn harvest, and at least 700,000 jin (350 tons) have been consumed.

After the Jin Yun ship rose to prominence in the capital, it consumed an additional 200,000 jin compared to previous years, pushing the price up to one liang.

In other words, there are at most 2.1 million jin left on the market, of which about 1 million jin are from Southern Zhili and Zhejiang.

Zhang Kun's acquisition of a quarter of the produce immediately pushed up the price of tuna in both regions to over one tael!

Noticing the rapid rise in the price of tuna, tuna merchants in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang also began to increase their purchases.

Zhang Kun then instructed major salt merchants to spread the news and publicize it extensively in various prefectures and counties of both regions:

Firstly, tampons are selling very well in the north, and Jin Yunhao needs to purchase at least 400,000 to 500,000 catties of tampons.

Secondly, Nanjing Jinyunhao is about to be established and will also purchase 400,000 to 500,000 catties of raw bamboo shoots to compete with local established businesses.

When the news spread, not only Tampagne trading companies, but also many businessmen and even ordinary people began to buy Tampagne and participate in speculation!