hsntnovel Chapter 2744 The Purpose of the Noble Families
Chapter 2744 The Purpose of the Noble Families
Upon hearing this, many people began to respond, especially the Wang, Zheng, and Lu families, who all expressed their support for doing so.
Only a few families are still hesitating, which is clearly an act of hostility towards the Prince Ji's Mansion. Will this invite retaliation from the Prince Ji's Mansion?
Their experience over the years has taught them that although Prince Ji may look young, he is extremely cunning, and they have suffered losses from him more than once.
"Gentlemen, do you have any further questions?" Choi In-ji asked those who had not yet expressed their opinions.
"Imperial Censor Cui, it's not that we don't want to do it, but the problem remains the same: even if we acquire the spices..."
What can we ultimately do?
If we don't provide any follow-up support after selling it, we'll still have to buy it back, which would still be a losing proposition.
If we sell our products and they are all bought up by Prince Ji, you can imagine what kind of exorbitant price Prince Ji will charge us when we want to buy spices again.
Spices are different from other things. We can do without other things, but we all need spices. They are consumables and will eventually run out.
Unless we can find a way to obtain a continuous supply of spices.
Not everyone is confused; there are still people who understand. No matter what it is, it only has value if it creates value.
If you keep something in your possession and don't sell it, even if its value increases ten thousand times, it has no value whatsoever.
It's the same principle as gold. Whether it's ten strings of cash for one tael or ten thousand strings of cash for one tael, its actual value is only realized when you use gold to buy goods.
Otherwise, if you just keep it in your hands and don't sell it, there's no difference between 10,000 strings of cash per tael and 10 strings of cash per tael.
After hearing this, Choi In-ji was not in a hurry, but instead spoke slowly and deliberately:
"Gentlemen, this is another thing I want to tell you: we can go and buy spices."
"Buy spices? Where should I buy them?"
Someone immediately asked a question.
“Of course, we’re going to the Western Regions,” Cui Renzhi replied.
"Imperial Censor Cui, as you just said, the roads to the Western Regions are impassable. We are not immortals who can fly there. How can we go to the Western Regions to buy spices?"
Immediately, someone refuted this.
"Gentlemen, Imperial Censor Cui means that we can use sea transport," Zheng Jingsi stood up and explained.
"But there are pirates at sea. They are vicious and few merchant ships can escape them."
Everyone should know about this.
If the goods are worthless, the other party will let you pass after you pay some toll. But spices are extremely valuable, and the other party will inevitably be tempted by the money.
If this gets intercepted, it will be a huge loss.
Before Zheng Jingsi could finish speaking, someone stood up and said, "This is no secret."
Zheng Jingsi was not angry after hearing this, and still spoke in a gentle tone:
"Gentlemen, please listen to what I have to say. What this man said is correct. There are great dangers at sea, but also great opportunities."
These words were not spoken by me, but by King Ji.
As we understand it, starting this year, the Prince Ji's Mansion will increase its maritime transport capacity; if land routes are impassable, then they will rely on both sea and land routes.
In the vast ocean, pirate crews cannot guard the place all the time. Moreover, if they form a large fleet, pirate crews would not dare to provoke them easily.
If the Prince Ji's mansion can do it, then so can I.
We sent people to the port of Guangzhou to inquire with some merchants in the maritime trade. They frankly admitted that maritime trade was risky, but the returns were greater.
A single ship can fetch over ten thousand strings of cash for a round trip. For a wealthy family like the Prince Ji's Mansion, a round trip can yield a return of over one hundred thousand strings of cash.
Aren't you all tempted?
After these words, everyone fell silent again. Shipping had been quite developed in recent years, and they had also been involved in shipping.
However, there are still pirate crews at sea, and these people have suffered losses, so they are quite wary of sea transport.
Each loss involved tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of strings of cash, which they could not afford.
But they all know that shipping is highly profitable; otherwise, the Prince Ji's Mansion wouldn't have focused on developing shipping.
Just as King Ji said, there are great risks at sea, but also great riches.
If it were Prince Ji who was handling this matter, they would be somewhat confident, but if it were a powerful family, they would have to think twice.
Seeing the interest on everyone's faces, Choi In-ji nodded to Jung Kyung-seo, then spoke up:
"Everyone, what Brother Zheng said is what we've discussed, but we have another option."
We have already made contact with some merchants from the Western Regions.
Since we're afraid of losses caused by pirate crews, we don't have to go to sea ourselves; we can rely on others instead.
We can have merchants from the Western Regions transport the spices here, and we'll pay them upon arrival. That way, even if they're intercepted by pirates, we won't suffer any losses.
"That's good. This puts our minds at ease."
As soon as Choi In-ji finished speaking, someone cheered. "That's acceptable. At least they don't need to invest too much upfront."
"Then what is its value?" the Li family elder asked again.
Choi In-ji replied:
"Well... the price will be slightly higher than it is now, after all, they have to take on the risk."
Prices vary for different spices, but generally they are around 70% of the current market price.
But in this way, we don't have to take any risks. As long as we raise the current price, we can earn as much as we raise it.
This is why Cui asked everyone to raise the price.
Choi In-ji hesitated at first when answering because everyone present had spices they had stockpiled before, and they were very cheap.
The price is less than half of what it is now, but the current price is 70% of the market price. Add in transportation and other costs, and it will be more than 80%.
If the price remains the same, we won't make much money.
No one spoke; instead, they weighed the pros and cons. If the price of spices could rise even higher, then there would be profit to be made.
Seeing this, Choi In-ji pressed her advantage and continued:
"Gentlemen, the price of spices today is only twice that of when the country was founded."
There have been instances where spice prices have increased fivefold in the past, so doubling them now isn't considered expensive.
If we operate well, we can definitely raise the price to another level. When we sell the goods then, we will make a profit of 100%.
Over the years, each of our families has been slowly declining, and the savings of our ancestors have all been emptied by someone.
If this continues, in a few decades, there will be no place for us in the Tang Dynasty.
Don't forget, he's only turned 20 this year. Faced with his extraordinary wisdom, we can no longer sit idly by and wait for our doom.
Otherwise, we will all disappear into the long river of history.
Choi In-ji's words were the biggest blow to everyone. Although no one said it out loud, everyone thought so.
These years of quiet reflection and recuperation were also to avoid that person's sharp edge.
Even the five major clans suffered heavy losses, let alone second-rate aristocratic families like them.
But just then, a discordant voice suddenly rang out:
“Imperial Censor Cui, and all of you, have you ever considered that this is actually a scheme set up by Prince Ji?”
(I tried to make the situation seem plausible, not like someone blindly falling for a scam. I also researched many major scam cases from ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad, for reference.)