Chapter 285: Bulk Purchase From the Royal Court! (1/2)
Chapter 285: Bulk Purchase From the Royal Court!
After making the arrangements, Wang Chong went to find Big Uncle Wang Gen alone.
”Chong-er, Imperial Army Logistics Official Li Qingyou came to look for me, and he has expressed interest in purchasing your Wootz steel weapons!”
Upon seeing Wang Chong, Wang Gen immediately dove straight into the topic.
”What?!!” Hearing those words, a shocked expression appeared on Wang Chong's face. His entire body froze for an instant before frenzied joy swept across him like a raging torrent, drowning his awareness.
Li Qingyou!
Hearing that name, Wang Chong immediately realized that the matter he had been anticipating the most had finally happened...
A purchase from the Royal Court!
Even without the memories of his previous life, there was no way Wang Chong wouldn't know the significance of this name. In Great Tang, Li Qingyou's name was associated with a single thing—business.
All supplies involving the Imperial Army were personally handled by Logistics Official Li Qingyou.
Wang Chong had heard of this numerous times from the head of the Zhang Clan.
But there was another significance behind this name that only Wang Chong knew of.
This was the man who organized the greatest buyout of Wootz steel across the entire Central Plains in his previous life!
Even though that buyout failed eventually, the event left a deep mark in history.
According to Wang Chong's plan, it should be around one or two years before this would happen, so he was caught off-guard by the sudden news.
Two days ago, he sent a message to the Zhang Clan and allowed them to increase their production of Wootz steel sword from just a handful to thirty in this month so as to boost its reputation within the Imperial Army.
The final goal was to attract the attention of the official who was in charge of buying all supplies for the Imperial Army, Li Qingyou.
Wang Chong was confident that as long as Li Qingyou were to witness the might of the Wootz steel sword for himself, he would surely be enticed. Otherwise, he wouldn't have convinced the Royal Court to mass purchase Wootz steel sword in Wang Chong’s previous life.
It was just that Wang Chong hadn't expected Li Qingyou to move so swiftly. That matter only happened two days ago, and he had already gotten into action and contacted Big Uncle Wang Gen.
”Hahaha, I truly didn't expect this. This is really an unexpected surprise!”
Wang Chong clenched his fists tightly in excitement.
Wootz steel swords were extremely valuable, and they could easily rake in a huge profit. However, the sales would have to be carefully controlled to maintain such a profit margin. As the saying went, “rarity determines the value of an object”. Even though Wang Chong had sold a weapon to the Grand Marshal at 300,000 gold coins, that was a price unimaginable to the ordinary civilians.
To maintain such a profit margin, Wang Chong could only sell one of such swords per month, and it was unlikely that it would fetch such a price in the future.
Wang Chong could earn around three million each year from the sales of these swords, but no amount of money would be sufficient for him if he wanted to change the destiny of Great Tang, and time was clearly not on his side.
The quickest way for him to maximize his profit was selling straight to the Royal Court!
Not everyone had the financial ability to fork out 300,000 gold taels to buy a weapon like the Imperial Army's Grand Marshal. However, the Royal Court didn't face such a limitation.
In Wang Chong's plans, the main seller he was looking at for his Hyderabad ores was the Royal Court!
He would have to grasp the timing well. Too early, and the Wootz steel sword might still be too obscure for the Royal Court to be willing to fork out a generous sum to purchase it.
However, after Wang Chong's effort in building up the reputation of the Wootz steel over the past few months, the timing had finally ripened!
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”Wang gongzi, pleased to meet you.”
Under Wang Gen's lead, Wang Chong met the famous Logistics Official Li Qingyou in the Jade Tavern.
”Lord Li, you are too polite,” Wang Chong chuckled as he took a seat opposite to Li Qingyou.
Li Qingyou was a figure that was extremely hard to catch in Great Tang.
His scope of activities was mainly limited to the Royal Palace, and he maintained a low profile as well. Even though he did leave the Royal Palace at times to inspect and collect goods from the swordsmithing clans, he would leave as soon as his business was done.
Wang Chong had long heard of the other party's name, but this was the first time he had met him in person.
”Lord Wang should have told you about the matter?” Li Qingyou seemed to be a candid person. Instead of starting with pleasantries, he dove straight into the topic when he spoke. ”The Royal Court hopes to purchase a thousand Wootz steel swords from gongzi!”
”Since Lord Li is so candid, allow me to reply frankly as well. A thousand Wootz steel sword is impossible!” Wang Chong chuckled and waved his hands.
”Why? Are you unsatisfied with the price?” A glint flashed across Li Qingyou's eyes. He seemed to be unsurprised by Wang Chong's reaction. ”Pardon my bluntness, but it's impossible for the Royal Court to purchase it at the same price as gongzi usually sells them outside. 20,000 gold taels is already quite a high price for us.”
20,000 gold taels was an extremely low price compared to the current market condition outside. But this was how the Royal Court usually worked.
”Hahaha, Lord Li. You're misunderstanding me,” Wang Chong chuckled. ”It's not that I'm unwilling to sell to the Royal Court, but that I am unable to do so.”
”Oh? Why is that?”
”That is because I only have a hundred ingots of Wootz steel in my inventory,” Wang Chong replied with a smile.
Wang Chong had only bought three hundred jun of Wootz steel from Arloja and Ablonodan, but Li Qingyou wanted a thousand weapons in total. He didn't have sufficient material to meet Li Qingyou's demand.