latelenovela Chapter 268 A Grand Project of 5 Jin of Raw Silk (2)
Chapter 268 A Grand Project of 5 Jin of Raw Silk (2)
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Liu Ye smiled slightly and said leisurely, "Then, if I step forward and buy all the raw silk from the Suzhou Guild at a price 10% higher than the market price, and you all sell the raw silk to me, Chang Wei won't be able to get the raw silk, and he can't say anything bad about you. His backers will also be in a difficult position. Business is business, after all. They want to make money, and we can't cut off their source of income."
Su Mingkang stood up in surprise. All the raw silk in the Suzhou guild, plus an extra 10%?
“Young man, aren’t you afraid of making a fool of yourself by talking big? Do you know how much raw silk Suzhou sells to overseas merchants every year? Do you know what percentage of that raw silk is produced by the Suzhou guild? Let alone all the goods, even if you were given 500,000 catties, could you consume them all?” Even if there are natural disasters, such as mulberry leaves being infested with insects and silkworms dying in large numbers, Suzhou can still produce one million catties of raw silk a year without any problem. In a bumper year, it can reach nearly two million catties. The Suzhou guild controls the main channels and can receive at least seven million catties of raw silk every year.
Liu Ye's smile remained unchanged: "Master Su, don't be in a hurry, let me explain slowly. I didn't say I would pay this much cash at once, but rather in several installments. A shipload of raw silk shipped to Japan will fetch at least four or five times its original price. The first time I buy 500,000 catties, I'll have several million taels of cash when I return. Do you think I can handle all of this?"
Su Mingkang still didn't believe it: "Let's not even talk about whether you can come up with that much silver. Even if you can eat 500,000 catties of raw silk, by the time you come back from Japan, it will be too late. Wouldn't we be stuck with so much stock?" When fresh raw silk is produced the following year, the raw silk from the previous year won't be as valuable.
"I haven't finished yet. I have a way to make it back and forth in a month, so what you're saying won't be a problem."
"A round trip in a month?" Su Mingkang couldn't believe his ears. This was simply supernatural, beyond the comprehension of ordinary reason.
"I know that Chief Su won't believe me with just a few words. How about this: I'll prepare a few tables of food and drink at Leyun Tower tomorrow at noon, and invite all the guild leaders to sit down and chat. I'll explain in detail to you all, what do you say?"
Su Mingkang lowered his head and thought for a while. If what he said was true, it would be a way to kill two birds with one stone. First, it would make Chang Wei back down, and second, it would not only avoid a 20% loss but also increase profits by 10%, making it a win-win situation. Even if he was exaggerating, he wouldn't suffer any actual loss.
"Okay, I promise you. See you at Leyun Tower tomorrow."
After seeing Liu Ye off, Su Mingkang quickly sent people to invite all the silk shop owners of the guild back.
These people had only been gone a short while when they were hurriedly called back. They were all puzzled and asked, "What is the matter that requires such a rush?"
Su Mingkang recounted the events from beginning to end, and then asked, "This is a serious matter, and I cannot make a decision on my own. We all need to come up with a plan together."
Hongfu Silk Shop is the second largest silk shop in Suzhou. The owner's surname is Yan and his given name is Donglou. He said, "Although 500,000 catties is a joke, if this person is really willing to raise the price by 10%, it doesn't matter if I sell it to him for 30,000 to 50,000 catties. I won't lose out either way."
His views were largely the same as Su Mingkang's. Su Mingkang nodded and asked, "What about Chang Wei?"
Yan Donglou sneered: "Does his desire to make money mean we shouldn't? A 30% profit margin on each transaction is obvious to anyone. We can just pin it on this Liu guy. We can say he asked for 500,000 jin, and all our goods were bought up. This Chang guy tried to force us to buy at a low price, but some fool bought them at a high price. Can he blame us for that?"
Everyone nodded in agreement. If you don't follow the rules and force people to buy, there are some foolish and rich suckers out there. Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents. No matter how domineering Eunuch Chang is, he can't stop all silk shops from making money. If he really pushes them too far, we'll all fight to the death.
Su Mingkang nodded and said, "Since everyone agrees, let's find out about this Liu guy tomorrow. As for Chang Wei, everyone should say the same thing: someone is willing to pay a high price to buy it, it's not that we're unwilling to sell to him."
After leaving Su Ji's shop, Li Fu couldn't help but ask, "General, why are we getting involved with that garrison eunuch's adopted son who's ripping off the silk shop? Aren't we afraid he'll cause trouble? Besides, why should we add a 10% markup and let those old guys profit?"
Liu Ye said, “If we don’t get involved in this mess, we won’t find a suitable opportunity to get a foothold in the Suzhou raw silk trade; if we don’t raise the price, we won’t be able to sway those cunning old foxes. For the same price, they can choose to sell to familiar maritime merchants. We are outsiders with no local backing—Prefect Chen can act as an intermediary, but he can’t interfere in the actual business—we will find it difficult to achieve our goal without resorting to extreme measures. As for that Chang Wei, if he takes his anger out on me, I’m not afraid. I’ll deal with whatever comes my way. Anyway, my territory isn’t in Southern Zhili, so I don’t need to worry about the Nanjing garrison eunuch causing trouble. Once the deal is done, I’ll just pack up and leave!”
"If we raise the price, will we still make a profit?"
Liu Ye nodded: "It's definitely going to make money. I wasn't sure at first, but I dared to place this bet after Old Man Su admitted it himself. Many merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang go overseas, but they all gamble their lives and fortunes. They wouldn't take such a risk in a highly profitable industry like silk trading. If they produced and sold their own goods, we wouldn't stand a chance. What are they afraid of going overseas? They're afraid of encountering storms and capsizing, afraid of being robbed by pirates. Either way, they'll lose everything. Even if they return safely, there's still a huge drawback..."
Li Fu couldn't help but ask, "What defect?"
"A trip to Japan takes too long, often a year or two. Even though money is easy to make in Japan, I can only go once or twice a year at most."
Li Fu clapped his hands: "We have the 'Far Voyage' ship, which can easily make ten or eight trips a year."
"That's why I dared to add 10% to the price to sway those old guys." Liu Ye smiled disdainfully. "Based on 500,000 catties, even the best lake silk would cost 500,000 taels. Adding 10% would only add 50,000 taels. Resell it to Japan and it would be worth at least 2 million taels. With such huge profits, what's that little bit of silver?"
Li Fu was utterly impressed with his master. Such a simple method was so effective. It seemed that consuming all the raw silk in Suzhou was not a problem at all; he just needed to make a few more trips.
"General, we can follow suit and take over Hangzhou's raw silk as well."
"No rush. You have to take things one step at a time. Taking too big a step will only lead to trouble. Right now, we should focus on taking over the Suzhou market slowly. If we try to conquer Hangzhou, firstly, we don't have enough capital, and secondly, it would be too conspicuous and attract unwanted attention."
"General, you are right. I was too naive," Li Fu nodded and said.