Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 042: A Slap on the Face Must Hurt (Part 3)
As for Cao Sanxi, he was not content with the dull life of digging for food in the soil. When he was in his twenties, he went to Chaoyang County, Liaoning Province to do business.
His first business was selling tofu, and then he used bean dregs to raise pigs and pig manure to grow beans, thus forming a closed-loop production. In addition, Chaoyang is located at the junction of Han, Mongolian and Manchu, and commerce is developed. Although this place is close to Jinzhou, it is a certain distance away from the military stronghold of Jinzhou-Shanhaiguan. Therefore, the repeated battles between the Ming and Qing dynasties later had little impact on it. Therefore, when the Qing Dynasty entered the pass in 1644 in the historical plane, the Cao family already had a lot of capital in Chaoyang County.
It is undeniable that when the Qing Dynasty entered the country in 1644, Cao Sanxi took the initiative to provide military rations to the Qing army and helped transport them. But at that time, what else could you ask a businessman to do? At least from the time Cao Sanxi established himself in Chaoyang to the time when the Qing Dynasty entered the country, he never transported contraband goods or laundered money for the Qing regime like the eight imperial merchants did.
If one must dwell on this point and pursue excessively the character of Cao Sanxi, then Zhu Youdong should first commit suicide: There is no doubt that for him to be able to live in the Celestial Empire for decades before traveling through time, there must have been a prerequisite, that is, his ancestors must have shaved their heads in the Qing Dynasty.
In short, he is a business genius. As for the moral issue, haha, under the influence of the time traveler, whether there is the name of Qing is still a question. Not to mention the Cao family, it is unlikely that the eight imperial merchants of the Qing Dynasty will appear.
"Hey, Cao Sanxi, after looking at my several shops, do you have any ideas?"
Cao Huachun was very capable and he quickly captured a young eunuch from Shanxi and brought him in. As the communication time went on and with the help of others, the two sides were finally able to communicate normally.
"Your Highness, I would like to offer you a few words of advice."
"Well, go ahead."
"Your Highness's soap is excellent, but the merchandise is still too monotonous. Since Shuangji is a department store, you should get more things to sell together in the store. After all, the owner of this store is the Crown Prince, so it is not difficult to get all kinds of specialties from all over the world. Therefore, it is imperative to make the name of a department store live up to its name as soon as possible. After all, there are still not enough people who go out just for soap, and the rich and idle nobles are more likely to wander around. Only when the store has enough variety of goods can these people think of going to Shuangji first after going out."
"Anything else?"
"Well, I've seen in several shops these days that the guys are very polite to the customers who come to the shops. But I can feel that this politeness is just pretended. It's not from the heart. In fact, I believe that the customers who come to the shops can also feel it. It's just that the soap can only be bought in a few shops now, so I have to go to the store."
"Well, Cao Sanxi, seeing a problem is not a skill, but knowing how to solve it is a skill."
"Yes, Your Highness, what you said makes sense. This is why I have repeatedly asked to see the owner of Shuangji." At this point, Cao Sanxi couldn't help but take a few steps forward. Cao Huachun next to Zhu Youdong couldn't help but frowned. But after seeing Zhu Youdong gently wave his hand, he still endured it.
"Your Highness, I now have a shop in Chaoyang, Liaoxi, mainly selling tofu. This business has just started, so it's not that good. If Your Highness trusts me and allows my shop to sell soap as well, I can guarantee that the annual payment to Your Highness will be at least 20% of the Ningyuan Earl's family!"
Speaking of the auction of the soap distribution rights, it was actually more of a competition between the backgrounds of the powerful people in the Ming Dynasty.
For example, the sales rights of Sichuan were said to be sold to a businessman named Zhu, but in fact, the person behind this person was not the King of Shu. There was no prince in Nanzhili, just like in Beizhili. So the sales rights of Nanzhili were naturally taken away by the Duke of Wei. As for Liaodong? Of course, it was Li Chengliang's Ningyuan Earl's Mansion.
That is why Cao Sanxi said that he was confident that the sales volume of just one county would not be lower than 20% of that of the Ningyuan Earl's Mansion, which had obtained the distribution rights for the entire Liaodong region.
"Haha, you even know that the businessman named Li Lian has Earl Ning Yuan behind him. It seems you have put a lot of thought into it."
"Your Highness, please forgive me for making a fool of myself. As a person without any connections, I must be careful when doing business. I must have a clear understanding of the backgrounds of my opponents. Otherwise, I might end up dead without a burial place."
Cao Sanxi's words were not at all exaggerating, and Zhu Youdong also felt that what he said was very right.
In the words of Mr. Huang Renyu, it was not a big problem to be a businessman in the Ming Dynasty, but once you reach a certain scale, you must actively invite the powerful to invest. Otherwise, sooner or later, your family will be broken up - the powerful in the Ming Dynasty were quite shameless and never had the concept and consciousness of serving the businessmen.
Therefore, the big merchants in the Ming Dynasty were not easy to mess with. In the historical plane, it was extremely difficult for several emperors in the late Ming Dynasty to collect business taxes. The root cause was the excessive entanglement between power and money.
Of course, although he is a time traveler, he is still young. These problems are not for Zhu Youdong to worry about. So at this moment, he said to the person opposite with a smile: "Cao Sanxi, forget about the soap you just mentioned in Chaoyang. After all, the monopoly of Liaodong was given to Ningyuan Bo, and I can't go back on my word. However, you are really a talent, what do you think? Do you dare to give up the shop in Chaoyang and work for me?"
"It is my great honor to serve His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but I still want to be my own boss."
"How dare you! How dare you be so ungrateful! Young master, what can you say to a fellow like him? I will take him to the East Factory later and turn him into fertilizer in no time."
Very good, Cao Daban sang the white-faced role well.
Zhu Youdong praised Cao Huachun with his eyes, but said, "Hey, Otomo, don't say that. As the saying goes, a soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier. If a businessman doesn't insist on being his own boss, he is doomed to fail."
After saying this, Zhu Youdong stood up and said, "Cao Sanxi."
"I am here." Compared with the confident and arrogant voice just now, this voice already has a trembling tone - after all, people of this era are still powerless to resist the imperial power.
"I am going to open another shop in the capital, and you will be the shopkeeper! I will assign you the assistants, but if you are not satisfied, you can change them. I understand your ambition to be your own boss, so I will make a six-month agreement with you. If within six months, the sales volume of the shop you manage catches up with the annual sales volume of any of the other six shops, I will give you one share and let you manage all the sales of Shuangji Department Store in Northern Zhili... Ten years later, if you still want to be your own boss, I will give you a sum of money so that you can open your own shop. How is that?"
"Your Highness is so kind, I am grateful to you and will do my best to serve you!"
Zhu Youdong was very happy to have managed to hire the best professional manager of this era. Of course, after being the crown prince for so many years, he still had some basic cunning. If he were to shout something like "I have found a great talent today", all his teachers would probably be unhappy.
He helped Cao Sanxi up and was about to say something to encourage him when a young eunuch rushed in and said, "My lord, the emperor sent me here to tell you to hurry to the Palace of Heavenly Purity."
"Oh, okay, come here, help me change my clothes. Um, is there something urgent with Grandpa Emperor?"
"Well, the emperor asked me to tell you that the Imperial Household Department received more than 200 impeachment documents today, all of which spoke ill of Shuangji Department Store."
"Hahahaha~ Great! These guys finally got their faces close to me. I almost couldn't wait any longer!"
