Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 60

Upon hearing these words, Magistrate Cheng motioned his servant to stop speaking, and he then listened carefully. This speaker's voice sounded a bit squeaky, which made people feel uncomfortable listening to him speak.

"What Boss Wang has said is correct, but it depends on how it's calculated. If you only consider the first year, you will definitely lose money if you buy it, but since it's bought already, why not keep some during the harvest next year? Spending an amount of money now will allow for crops to be planted for countless years, so it is still very profitable.

Besides, the price you mentioned is too low. It's a dou of rice, not a dou of millet. How can it be bought for ten coins? Unless you sell it to other grain shops. However, you and I have our own grain shops. Which shop didn't obtain some land through other means? As long as the seeds are planted, we can sell grain if we want to sell grains, or sell seeds if we want to sell seeds. "

After hearing this, Magistrate Cheng knew the person who just spoke must have been Boss Jin. Magistrate Cheng nodded, agreeing with this person's statement in his mind. The people over there also agreed.

"Boss Jin's words make sense. Their two manors won't be able to sell their seeds to places that are too far away. They might be able to earn more this year, but by next year, who knows whose pockets the money will flow into? Boss Wang, if you don't want to buy it, you can go discuss it with the Mi family. Maybe the Mi family will succeed by then, and maybe they will give away some seeds to Boss Wang for free."

As soon as Boss Wang heard this, his tone changed. He was no longer gloating, and he sounded a little angry.

The man didn't seem to want to let him off just like that, and he continued, "Boss Wang is really amazing, but I wonder if any of your subordinates are as good as the person surnamed Liu? It only took them a few years. The Mi family started out with a small shop in the beginning, and now it has become what it is now. They already have six grain shops; two in the Capital alone, and four in other places."

"Let's talk about it at a later time. Maybe the Mi family will suffer a loss this time. Let's drink. Don't talk anymore, don't talk anymore." Boss Wang was unwilling to get involved with this kind of thing. As long as the matter involved him, he didn't speak anymore.

"Okay, let's eat, let's eat. It's almost noon now. It seems that the people of the Mi family are coming over in the afternoon. We should go watch the commotion later. Nine thousand piculs of old grains. We will see who wins and who loses by then."

Another person tried to ease the tension. For a short while, there was only the sounds of eating and small talk, and no one said anything about the seeds.

Magistrate Cheng didn't hear anything else, so he began to eat at a leisure pace. His servant was responsible for helping him serve the food and pour wine, and he occasionally took a bite when he had the time to. In his opinion, this was already really good treatment. If he was anybody else's servant, he could only stand on the side.

"The Magistrate is on a break today? Just now, I was busy discussing with others about the advertisements, so that took up a bit of my time. Today, the manor sent some white fungus to the restaurant. We're not selling it as we're saving it for the restaurant's managers. I will ask someone in just a bit to cook it with mountain hawthorn and then serve it to my lord. It's perfect for beating the heat."

While Magistrate Cheng and his servant were eating, the manager of the restaurant hurried over. Hearing that he said it would be cooked in a bit, Magistrate Cheng knew that the food was actually already in the process of being made. He smiled and said,

"Manager, you don't have to be so polite. After following a good master, you're even able to eat white fungus. How joyful and fortunate."

The manager didn't act overly courteous since he got to see the Magistrate often and was used to talking to him already. Everytime he went home and told his two mistresses about this, his mistresses would reveal an expression of admiration.

While speaking, the manager filled Magistrate Cheng's goblet with wine, and then continued to say, "My lord, I'm not certain myself. Although my master is great, this would obviously result in the loss of money. How would they be able to defeat them?"

"Great about what? You obviously have an agency location, but you still set up those big advertisements. Once those things are set up, which fool would go to the agencies to make transactions?" The servant was also worried and a bit angered that they were like iron that cannot be turned into steel1, so he muttered to himself.

The manager wasn't bothered by this, and smiled at him. He explained to Magistrate Cheng, "I had the same thoughts myself at the beginning, but later I realized that it's far from being this simple. There is only one Sky Lantern that is used for advertising. Once the results seem good, more will be made to cover the sky.

When there are no more advertisement spots left for people to buy, they will naturally go to the agency. Also, Mister Song said that for this one time, I will be the one responsible for discussing the advertisement matters with people. Later, however, this matter will also be handed over to the agency. The agency has other ploys that they haven't used yet. We will get to see them when the time comes."

"Hmm, that's right. I knew that the Zhang manor's plans were not that simple; they always have more tricks up their sleeves. The manor is able to earn money whilst letting people think that they're taking advantage of the manor. I had asked you to come over because I wanted to ask about the advertisements. You can go back to work now."

Magistrate Cheng was relieved now. Since they're not anxious, then it must mean that nothing wrong would happen. Later when they make eighty or a hundred Sky Lanterns, they would be able to earn hundreds of taels of silver everyday. Even if the cost of production was overestimated to be one tael a day, they would still earn nine taels. This was all because they owned this place.

Even with fewer lanterns, they would be able to earn four hundred taels of silver a day with just fifty lanterns. Ten days would be four thousand taels. How about a month? Calculating it like this made it seem so frightening, right?

You have seen that those people who sell liang'pi and savory crepes have to buy the liang'pi and oil from the manor. Each time people buy it, the manor only earns a few coins. The lanterns can't always be used for posting ads. When some scholars write some nice poems, it will also be written on the lantern."

"Hmm, you're right. Once the novelty wears off, the advertisements on the Sky Lanterns won't be worth this price anymore. The merchants of each fleet will make their own lantern on their own ships. Who would be willing to spend so much money?"

Magistrate Cheng also knew that it was not easy to do business here. The purpose of paying taxes was to get the government to take care of them. There could not be too many Sky Lanterns in the sky, otherwise they would block each other, and no one would be able to see them clearly.

After waiting for the manager to leave, the servant whispered next to him, "My lord, do you think they really don't make money?"

"How is it possible that they don't make money? The managers who were taken from other places and hired with high salaries are all cunning. They say one thing with their mouths and think about another thing in their hearts." Magistrate Cheng picked up the wine goblet and said, before drinking it all.

"Then, within a few years, the Zhang family would become the richest family in the Great Tang?" The servant calculated the money and said in surprise.

"Are you dreaming? In the first year of doing this, others won't understand the intricacies, but can't they just copy them? There are so many rivers. Smart people will do it according to what they did. Earlier, when we were coming over, someone was already rowing a small boat on the river and calling out that they're selling things. The river does not belong to the Zhang family. Other people can also get a few big boats, and put up advertisements and sell foods and drinks. The amount of money the Zhang Manor can earn will become less and less.

Do you know how many rich people there are? Do you know how much money they have? Among those wealthy families, just any family can bury the Zhang Manor with their money. The bigger their business becomes, the more people they will offend, and the number of places that need to be managed will also increase. "

While he was satisfied with Zhang Manor's money making rate, Magistrate Cheng was also worried about them. He wondered how many jealous eyes were staring at them.

*

It was unknown who spreaded the news that the Zhang Manor was going to lose money this time. Just after noon, many people rushed here, wanting to see how the manor that benefited greatly after buying this area, would respond.

There were some businessmen, some craftsmen who were idle and had nothing to do, and some people who came here to sell snacks. The sky was still so cloudy, and it was hard to tell when there would be a heavy rainstorm. The people who sold umbrellas looked up to the sky from time to time, hoping that it would rain heavily.

After the meal, Magistrate Cheng followed his servant on to a boat and drifted on the river again. There were already a lot of people waiting on boats in the river, and there were too many people on the bank and it was a little crowded. Because of this, the area in the river seemed too small. It was also necessary to leave room for the cargo ships to pass through. Fortunately, Magistrate Cheng had foresight and wore his official uniform. No one dared to move their boats too close to him.

They have arrived. Everyone knew that the merchants of the Mi family were here when they saw this commotion. Everyone started looking for Song Jing'gong. The people who came here often were able to recognize the person who was in charge of this place.

When the people of the Mi family got closer, the crowd made way for them to cross the bridge to get to this place.

Once the team stopped, people from the two carriages in the front and back got off. When everyone was standing orderly, the door of the middle carriage opened and two people got off from the carriages. One was Boss Mi, and the other was his Wisdom-Bank Liu.

"Look, there are quite a few people. Brother Liu, this time we will get to make a name for ourselves. Have people been arranged to release the news yet?"

Boss Mi got out of the carriage and looked at the cloudy gloomy sky, but he felt at ease. He spoke to the person next to him with his hands behind his back.

"Boss, you can rest assured. They will spread the news in a while and let everyone here know." Wisdom-bank Liu looked confident.

Song Jing'gong also knew at this time, and he walked out of a nearby shop. He didn't appear that grandeur as he was only followed by two workers on his side. They walked hurriedly to this place, and he said to Boss Mi, "Forgive us for being a bit late. Boss Mi is surely a man of his words. It was said that we will meet in the afternoon, and you arrived right after noon."

Translator's Notes

1. Angered that iron cannot be turned into steel

This is a Chinese proverb that expresses one's disappointment and anger towards another person that doesn't try hard, try to improve oneself, or succeed. Steel is often viewed as being superior to iron, so the conversion of iron to steel during steelmaking is seen as a level-up'.