Chapter 100: Maritime Business Operations (I)
The news that Li Daoqiong, the Dragon King of Mouping County, had sent people to kidnap the sugar-making master reached the headquarters of Zichuan County, and the young people at the headquarters were furious when they heard the news. Someone immediately went to find Huo Chong to deal with Li Daoqiong.
Huo Chong did not answer immediately. It was necessary to deal with Li Daoqiong, and there was nothing to consider about this. But Huo Chong wanted to deal with Li Daoqiong not because Li Daoqiong was a thug for the gentry of Mouping County. What Huo Chong really saw was Li Daoqiong's smuggling ability.
There are many people in Shandong who eat smuggling. Feng Yukuan is much stronger than Li Daoqiong. Seeing Huo Chong coming to visit, Feng Yukuan ordered someone to bring two plates of food. Huo Chong was about to talk about Li Daoqiong, but after seeing the two plates of food, he couldn't continue and almost laughed out loud.
Feng Yukuan pinched a piece of Huo Chong's version of sorghum candy and put it in his mouth, but pushed the imitation version in front of Huo Chong. Huo Chong could only pick up a piece, because of the lack of agar, this master of making candy could only try his best to make up for it with other means.
Even so, this guy's maltose tasted good, but it only played the role of glutinous rice maltose itself. Compared with the sorghum maltose produced by Huo Chong, there was really a big gap.
This person's rice paper is made of real glutinous rice, and it tastes very good. I didn't expect that the candy I made has been imitated, and it is such a high-quality imitation. Huo Chong couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"Brother Huo, I have to say. I think this family's cooking method is better than yours. But I don't know why, I usually prefer to eat yours."
"Yeah. The malt candy made by this shop is really good. They use a lot of ingredients." Huo Chong exclaimed sincerely.
"Brother Huo, aren't you angry with this family? They secretly used your style." Feng Yukuan asked.
Huo Chong laughed twice, indicating that he didn't care at all. For snacks and candies, if you do this, others will do the same. If you keep pestering like this, there will be no end.
I wanted to get over this matter quickly, but Feng Yukuan frowned, "Brother Huo, if you don't take action now, it will never end. Now there is one company imitating your candy, as long as they can make money, then there will be ten or a hundred companies. Will you still sell your candy then?"
Huo Chong didn't expect Feng Yukuan to be so excited, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was understandable. Feng Yukuan was Huo Chong's largest agent in Jinan City, so he certainly didn't want to have a competitor.
After thinking it over carefully, Huo Chong still felt that this matter was not important at all. He patiently explained it to Feng Yukuan. As expected, Feng Yukuan did not understand Huo Chong's concept at all, and was completely opposed to the reason that "the market should be expanded together".
Hearing Feng Yukuan's attitude of not being able to accept others making a penny on the road developed by Huo Chong, Huo Chong's thoughts jumped back to Li Daoqiong. After Feng Yukuan finished his intense expression, Huo Chong asked: "Brother Feng, this Li Daoqiong followed the gentry of Mouping County to bully me. Does he think that I made money from the road he ate?"
Feng Yukuan looked Huo Chong up and down a few times and said unhappily, "Don't you understand very well?"
"Yes. I originally thought that Li Daoqiong would want to work with me and make a fortune from it. Brother Feng, if Li Daoqiong is willing to help me transport this kind of sorghum candy to Japan, I will not treat him unfairly."
Feng Yukuan replied unhappily: "Brother Huo, you are such a smart person, why do you like to fantasize so much? You want Li Daoqiong to listen to you, and Li Daoqiong wants you to listen to him. Let's not talk about Li Daoqiong first, let's make this sorghum candy thing clear first."
Seeing Feng Yukuan so excited, Huo Chong could only turn the topic back to sorghum candy. Based on the experience of economics, Huo Chong said that this group of people would only help Feng Yukuan.
Sorghum candy looks simple, a piece of candy wrapped in glutinous rice paper. But such a simple little thing has a secret recipe. If you can't learn this secret recipe, no matter how hard those people try, they can only make a little money. The big money is still earned by Huo Chong and Feng Yukuan.
Feng Yukuan listened patiently for a while, but in the end he still couldn't take it in. He frowned and asked, "Brother Huo, just tell me the truth. If you say they can't do it, how long will it take for them to fail?"
"This... depends on the price of grain." Huo Chong couldn't help but explain from a macroeconomic perspective.
But Huo Chong felt that this was too much of an overestimation of Feng Yukuan. Feng Yukuan could not understand the economy from this perspective.
Unexpectedly, Feng Yukuan just frowned, then suddenly relaxed his brows and said with some sudden enlightenment: "Brother Huo, you said before that as long as maltose is cheap enough, people will definitely eat it. Because they can only afford this kind of food. If the price of grain is high, and the price of sorghum maltose remains unchanged, it will only sell more and more."
Huo Chong didn't know how to evaluate Feng Yukuan for a moment. At least Feng Yukuan had a normal understanding ability, and he could have a normal view of everything he could understand. But Feng Yukuan had not received more comprehensive training after all, and too many parts of his cognitive field were based on the Qing Dynasty's view.
While Huo Chong was analyzing Feng Yukuan in front of him, Feng Yukuan had already let his thoughts run wild, his eyes flashing with excitement, "If that's the case... those people used so much glutinous rice to make malt sugar... it would still be..."
Huo Chong could only add: "In order to compete with us, they have to continue to use a large amount of glutinous rice. The higher the price of glutinous rice, the more they have to use it if they don't want to lose money. Because the maltose made from glutinous rice tastes better than the ones we make from ground beans and sweet potatoes. But Brother Feng, some people do business that will get them killed, but no one does business that loses money. The harder they work to sell now, the more they earn, but we will eat it up in the future."
Feng Yukuan nodded more and more as he listened, but finally he sighed, "Brother Huo, you have included them in the calculation."
"What do you mean by plotting against them!" Huo Chong was unhappy. This was accusing Huo Chong of being sinister, but Huo Chong had never thought of this from the beginning to the end.
"No, no, no." Seeing Huo Chong was unhappy, Feng Yukuan quickly said that he didn't mean that. But after saying that, Feng Yukuan looked for other words, "I just said that Brother Huo, you are too powerful. Those people can't escape from your palm."
"No!" Huo Chong felt that what Feng Yukuan said was the same thing, and expressed his objection again, "Brother Feng, I am just using the simplest arithmetic. This is not me scheming against them. If I did the same thing as those people, it would be my turn to be the same as them. This is not about who is scheming against whom, this is how the world turns. We are all a tiny dot in this world, and we have to follow the world."
Feng Yukuan was stunned for a moment, thinking for a moment, he lowered his voice, "Brother Huo, your kind of blessing is so powerful, did you ask the gods for help?"
"Ah?" Huo Chong was stunned. Feng Yukuan's train of thought was too amazing.
"No. Brother Huo, I heard from people that as long as you cultivate your blessings, everything will go smoothly. Do you know why Li Daoqiong hates you so much? He is also afraid of you. After he offended you last time, he didn't care. I didn't expect that you can cultivate blessings so effectively, so much money will come as you say. Whatever you encounter can be done according to your wishes. Whatever you want to do, you can accomplish it. He is also afraid. He is afraid that you will do something to harm him."
Huo Chong was dumbfounded. After Feng Yukuan finished speaking, Huo Chong could only ask, "Brother Feng, do you think I am the kind of person who can do this?"
Feng Yukuan shook his head. "I didn't believe it before. Brother Huo, you look like a person with a lot of yang energy, not the kind of person who uses yin energy to do things. But from what you said just now, I think you may have used pure yang magic when you left, right? That's the secret method of the righteous way."
"...What is the righteous pure yang magic?" Huo Chong decided to ask humbly.
Perhaps it was because of what Huo Chong had said that Feng Yukuan talked about the classification of magic spells. As Huo Chong listened, he realized that Feng Yukuan was probably a true Taoist believer.
According to Feng Yukuan's description, all spells used to harm people, such as curses, are considered "yin magic". Because this kind of magic is too insidious, it shortens one's life span and brings retribution. However, because this kind of evil magic is easy to perform, many people know how to perform it. All kinds of Taoists, sorcerers, and wizards have mastered some of this kind of evil magic.
In contrast, pure yang magic is much more difficult. This kind of magic does not harm the practitioner himself, but only requires the practitioner to have a bright state of mind. And the more you help people, the stronger the blessings brought by the magic.
Compared with those who know Yin magic, there are far fewer people who know pure Yang magic. In Feng Yukuan's opinion, Huo Chong's magic is a kind of pure Yang magic. Although this kind of magic will not bring immediate results, it can bring real blessings to the vast number of people who follow Huo Chong.
After hearing what Feng Yukuan said, Huo Chong sighed, "Brother Feng, you think too highly of me. I wish I really understood this."
"Don't be afraid whether you understand or not. In fact, I heard these from others ." Feng Yukuan said with a smile.
Huo Chong had long been certain that Feng Yukuan must have heard it from others. If Feng Yukuan could come up with this by himself, he would definitely use this knowledge to gain benefits. How could he eat from the same pot with Huo Chong?
"Brother Huo, do you know Master Changxin?" Feng Yukuan asked.
Huo Chong felt like he had heard this name before, so he shook his head to indicate that he didn't know it.
"Master Changxin is a figure in Ludong Taoism. I went to see Master Changxin a few days ago, and that's what he said about you."
Huo Chong was confused by the news. A prestigious Taoist priest actually gave him such a high evaluation. Needless to say, the Taoist priest would make Huo Chong pay a price corresponding to this evaluation.
Although he was not opposed to cooperating with people like Master Changxin, Huo Chong was very worried that he did not have the ability to satisfy Master Changxin's appetite.
"Brother Huo, do you want to go meet Master Changxin?" Feng Yukuan asked.
Huo Chong agreed decisively. Whether he could satisfy this Taoist priest or not, he would have to meet him in person to know.
