Chapter 27 Chibafang
"It's not expensive, but it's hard for us to come up with three hundred thousand taels at once," said Tang Wen.
“Of course it’s not expensive. If it were two years ago, Chibafang would have cost at least 500,000 taels to acquire it.
Because the workshop is located in a good location, close to the prosperous Jingluo Street in Yanling.
The boss’s surname is Li, Li Dawang.
In addition to Qianyefang, there are many other shops in Yanling." Bu Feng nodded.
"I guess the Li family's shop isn't doing very well, right?" Tang Wen said.
"Master is really good, he guessed it right. That's right, the Li family's business of tea and some small items is indeed not very good?
The main reason is that other people also have these things, the competition is very fierce, and the things in Li’s shop have nothing special.
Recently, I actually bought the mirror perfume from Miss Li Chuner from Piaoxianglou and resold it.
However, that thing was expensive to begin with, a mirror cost one tael of gold, and when it was resold by the Li family shop, it would cost two taels of gold.
It's too expensive, so naturally, few people can afford it." Bu Feng said.
"Two taels, how dare he raise such a high price?" Tang Wen was stunned.
"Yes, the price has doubled, who would buy it?" Bu Feng nodded.
"No! You are wrong." Tang Wen shook his head.
"It's wrong. What's wrong?" Bu Feng asked.
"Although that thing is hard to sell because of the high price, I guess we can still sell some of it. I think he is out of stock. Otherwise, he wouldn't dare to raise the price so high," said Tang Wen.
"Could it be that Li Chun'er raised the price privately?" Bu Feng was stunned and said.
"It's possible! For example, when Li Dawang buys goods from Li Chun'er, and a mirror costs one tael and five cents of gold, he has to raise the price to two taels per mirror." Tang Wen nodded.
"This Li Chun'er is so bold that she actually dares to bluff you, my lord. Let's not give her the next batch of goods." Bu Feng was suddenly filled with murderous intent.
"Of course, we still need to understand this matter clearly. How about this, I'm not busy these two days, let's set off for Yanling County now and visit Qianyefang by the way." Tang Wen said.
So, Qiao Xiao picked a few guards to personally accompany Tang Wen to Yanling City.
After arriving in Yanling, Ge Ziyun and Bu Feng sent Tang Wen out to inquire for information.
Although Bu Feng is good, he doesn't know many words and is not as versatile as Ge Ziyun.
Tang Wen was considering sending Ge Ziyun to Yanling, but Ge Ziyun needed to take care of the accounts in Koh Samui and he could not be left without him for the time being.
In the evening, Tang Wen took Qiao Xiao straight to Piaoxiang Tower.
Seeing Tang Wen coming, Li Chuner personally welcomed him to the backyard, which was Li Chuner's territory.
It is still an independent courtyard. Of course, it is not big. Including the open space outside the courtyard, it is about 100 square meters.
"Not bad, you've made a fortune, right? Otherwise, why would the madam be willing to give you a private courtyard?" Tang Wen said with a smile as he walked.
"She dares not to give it to me. Otherwise, I won't give her any dividends." Li Chun'er said with a smug smile.
"Even the madam has to beg you, haha, Li Chun'er, you have such a smart brain, it would be a shame if you didn't go into business." Tang Wen said with a smile.
“This is her territory after all, and I have to give her some of the little money I make.
For example, I have to use her subordinates, otherwise, it won’t work.
Of course, all these are given to us by you, Master Tang, and Chun'er is very grateful." Li Chun'er bowed.
"So, you have to raise the price of the goods? For example, mirrors are sold for one tael and five cents?" Tang Wen suddenly frowned and looked at Li .
"I didn't, sir. How could I dare to do anything other than what you told me to do? Why don't you skin me alive?" Li Chun'er turned pale immediately and knelt down.
"No, but I heard that Li Dawang of Qianyefang raised the price of mirrors to two taels of gold per side. Although this can make more money, it is not beneficial in the long run. If you ruin my business, do you admit your guilt?" Tang Wen looked at Li Chuner coldly.
"I really don't have a lord, I now understand what you said.
Li Dawang didn’t get the goods from me, he got them from other sisters.
My sisters saw that they could make money by selling mirror lipsticks, so they all asked me to buy them.
They resold the mirror and it became worth one tael and two cents.
And Li Dawang might have passed it on to the second or third hand, so the price is getting higher and higher.
Even so, the goods you gave me have been sold out, and I am about to send someone to Koh Samui to inform you and ask you to come over to settle the bill." Li Chun'er said.
"It's finished so soon. The second batch of goods is quite a lot. Can Yanling City consume so much goods?" Tang Wen didn't believe it at all.
“It’s not Yanling City. Some time ago, I ran into my old employer Shen Xihe. He is quite famous in the provincial capital Jiangzhou. He owns about a hundred shops, selling antiques, jade and other items.
Every time he came to Yanling, he would come to me for the night. When he saw the mirror, lipstick and perfume in the room, he immediately became curious.
Later, I took a small batch back to the provincial capital, but it was sold out in just a few days.
So, I hurried to Yanling again, and just a few days ago, he came and took away all the goods I had.
Therefore, Yanling City is out of stock." Li Chun'er said, opening the cabinet, taking out the account and saying to Jin Zi, "This batch of goods sold for a total of 785 taels of gold, please take a look, sir."
"Well, I want to know about your business. If you dare to deceive me, I won't give you the goods next time." Tang Wen nodded and gave her the silver note for commission, which was more than a thousand taels of silver.
"Sir, you are Chun'er's benefactor, and Chun'er has also made a lot of money. How dare I deceive you? If Chun'er tells me even a lie, my whole family will die, and I will have no descendants." Li Chun'er was so anxious that she knelt down and swore.
Recently, I have earned more than one thousand taels of silver from Tang Wen, which is more than what I earned from receiving customers.
After all, in the years of famine, Li Chuner's overnight fee was fifteen or sixteen taels, so there were naturally fewer customers, and the money she earned from receiving customers was not as much as Tang Wen's commission.
Therefore, in Li Chuner's eyes, Tang Wen is a god of wealth.
If the next batch of goods is not given to her, the duck in her mouth will fly away. Li Chuner has already tasted the sweetness, so she is naturally scared.
"Okay, I'll decide whether to continue supplying you after I understand the situation clearly." Tang Wen nodded and stood up.
"Master, Chun'er is dirty and dare not serve you. Please go slowly. But I still want to find out clearly as soon as possible." Li Chun'er said.
The next morning, Tang Wen brought Qiao Xiao and Bu Feng to Qianyefang. The person in charge of receiving Tang Wen was Wu Nong, the second steward of the Li family.
Qiao Xiao suddenly frowned, but did not speak.
Tang Wen discovered that Qianyefang was indeed large. In addition to the dilapidated work shed, there was actually a house covering an area of three acres.
It's a two-story brick and wood structure, but it's quite dilapidated.
There are rows of dilapidated bungalows next to it, and the ground is covered with thick straw.
There were also some tattered bamboo mats on the straw, probably used by the workers to live in, no less than three hundred of them.
"Butler Wu, you had a lot of laborers working here before, right?" Tang Wen asked.
"Of course, we don't just do weaving and dyeing here. We also have other workshops, such as weaving straw mats and bamboo mats.
There were even iron smelting workshops. At the peak, there were more than 800 craftsmen, and many pieces of cloth could be produced in a day.
The cloth produced by Qianyefang is not only used in the province, but also sold to neighboring provinces." Wu Nong replied.
"Where are these workers now?" Tang Wen asked, with an idea in his mind.
"The work was stopped more than ten days ago, and after cleaning up the cloth and other things, they all dispersed," said Wu Nong.
"Disband. I heard that your employer still owes them a lot of wages? Don't they want it anymore?" Tang Wen asked.
“Of course I can’t refuse it, but the boss doesn’t have any money right now.
So, I was eager to sell the workshop to them and give them the money.
However, the amount is a bit large and it is difficult to deal with it at the moment.
Otherwise, the boss wouldn't have sold it for 300,000 taels." Wu Nong said.
"Haha, I heard that those craftsmen once caused trouble and surrounded your boss's house. In the end, your boss gave each of them a bucket of rice before things were settled." Ge Ziyun said with a smile.
"It's all the Tang army's fault! That unruly citizen almost made the boss angry to death. But now he's been thrown into jail, which is really gratifying." Wu Nong cursed.
"How much silver do you owe the workers?" Tang Wen asked.
"About tens of thousands of taels." Wu Nong said.
"How many workers are there now?" Tang Wen asked.
"A little over 500." Wu Nong replied.
"Well, I'm going to meet your boss tomorrow to discuss this in detail," said Tang Wen.
"Okay, I'll go back and report to my boss." Wu Nong nodded.
After coming out, Qiao Xiao came over and lowered his voice and said, "Master, there seems to be a problem."
"What's the problem?" Tang Wen asked.
