Chapter 75 Conning the Merchants – Part 2 (2/2)
'Before the other reincarnators or nobles dib their hands into this, I'll crash the market first.'
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January 13th.
The officials post the auction announcement news on the signboards around the city. All merchants and nobles were excited about this event.
At the same times, Tong placed an announcement that he would hire ten thousand employees for his soap business factory, shops, carpenters, blacksmiths, and tinkerers. Strangely, the announcement restricted a few jobs as they only accepted female employees. All the applicants would be trained by the government officials for free.
The third announcement was made later on the same day. The city hall would construct unique buildings within each outer district in different directions. They would be named as ”Swing-Eleven Convenient Store” and ”Wall-marked Convenient Store”. No further details were announced of what these buildings were for. The soap factory and various shops would also be constructed on top of the previous land of the executed nobles.
Meanwhile, the five representatives that visited Tong yesterday rushed out of the city with their caravan. They determined to gather every food they could buy or find, so they could buy more soap and make more profits.
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February 1st. Ye City.
The news about the auction and the soap business caught the ears of a young big-body businessman. He was the eldest son of the wealthiest merchant in this city.
His name was Te Langpu. He had a unique hairstyle, which he combed it to the front and the side as if he was bold and wanted to cover it. His fat face was in squire-shape. The chubby fingers of his were shorter than average men. His lips were thin and his mouth was so small and gave off obnoxious feeling to the point that whenever he smiled, it made people around him wanted to punch him in the face. However, because of his status and wealth, nobody dared to bully him.
If Zhang He saw him, he would kill him on the spot. This man was the one who had conned him 1,000 gold and made him fell into debt.
”Are you sure this is not fake news?”
”Young master Te. I've confirmed this news from that fatty's follower. It's true!”
”A ten thousand tons for the right to buy a thousand soap? That's a bigly rip off! Why did those losers run around for Zhang Tong!? Is the soap business that profitable?”
”Young master, the current price for soap is 40-50 gold for one bar. But Zhang Tong promised them that he will sell it at 20 gold each.”
Te Langpu clicked his tongue. He had a rough idea about the ingredient costs for one bar of soap, but he did not have a clue of how to make it. He knew that Tong made a killing in this deal, and the merchants would be the one who shouldered the risk.
”What about the soap recipe? Can anyone get a hand on it yet?”
”No, sir. But Zhang Tong is recruiting workers. There should be a leak soon. Oh, and they are planning to put the soap recipe in the next month auction!”
Te Langpu used his chubby short fingers to touch his chin and fell into deep thought.
”It's bigly late, but we can make our family great again! Gather our gold, we will attend the auction next month!”
”Sir, but half of our money was spent on grain. We don't have many lefts.”
”Bah, I get it. Just take all the remaining.”
”Sir, but I don't think we can buy it with the current fund.”
”… We'll see what happens.”