mtl008 Chapter 575 Driven Mad by Money
Chapter 575 Driven Mad by Money
Liu Shan was so angry that he wanted to release Guan Yinping and wield her Green Dragon Crescent Blade to kill him again after two days of hard work.
But he could understand that there was a reason for it. Looking at the remaining sugarcane, he said, "Brother Wei, Boyue, did you see the steps clearly just now? Let's do it again."
After saying that, he rolled up his sleeves and personally boiled the sugarcane, turning the remaining half cart of sugarcane into brown and white sugar. He dipped his finger in it, put it in his mouth and sucked on it, while widening his eyes and excitedly saying, "It's so sweet."
Mi Wei was equally excited, saying, "It's definitely several times sweeter than rock candy, and the color is clean and beautiful. If we took this to a shop, it would definitely fetch a sky-high price."
"More importantly, sugar, like salt, is a daily necessity. Although it is not consumed as much as salt, it is still a consumable. Once it is finished, it must be bought again. So it is no exaggeration to say that sugar production technology is definitely a money tree."
As the eldest son of a merchant family, Mi Wei immediately recognized the commercial value of white sugar. If this stuff were to be introduced into the market, the profits would definitely be no less than those of silk.
A brilliant light flashed in Liu Shan's eyes, and he asked impatiently, "Are you sure?"
His Highness the Crown Prince is poor too; he's wearing patched clothes.
For the poor, is money just money? No, it's their lifeblood.
If the profit margin on white sugar is really as high as Mi Wei claims, I'll definitely have to take him down.
Mi Wei nodded and said, "Your Highness, let me put it this way: after you finish the sugar, will you buy a second can?"
Seeing Liu Shan nod, he continued, "Other families will definitely do too. The gentry of Jiangnan, the gentry of Bashu, the gentry of the Central Plains, and even the tribal leaders of the grasslands—what a huge market that is! Based on the business experience of my Donghai Mi family for generations, I guarantee that as long as you have enough red and white sugar, you can make a fortune every day. I'm not kidding."
Liu Shan said, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's continue to buy sugarcane and produce it at full capacity. Wait, sugarcane is too heavy and it's too inconvenient to transport it from Jiaozhou. In comparison, wouldn't it be more convenient and much cheaper to build a factory in Jiaozhou, send the purchased sugarcane into the factory to be processed into white sugar, and then transport the white sugar to Jiangling?"
Currently, whether it's doing business or waging war, the biggest cost is not raw materials but transportation. The roads are too difficult and the transportation capacity is too low, which makes it impossible to increase profits. If sugarcane were to be transported to Jiangling, how much grain and fodder would be consumed along the way?
Transporting white sugar is much better in comparison, since white sugar is lightweight.
Mi Wei laughed and said, "Your Highness is wise. Judging from the production process just now, it takes about ten catties of sugarcane to make one catty of white sugar. Transporting white sugar is much cheaper than transporting sugarcane."
Liu Shan said excitedly, "Then what are we waiting for? Go home immediately, pack your things, and head to Jiaozhou to buy sugarcane and build a factory. In addition, the Prime Minister said that Jiaozhou will not carry out land reform for the time being, so we can buy up a lot of land to grow sugarcane, and then produce white sugar and wait to make money. Let me also experience the feeling of being richer than a country."
The first thing Liu Bei did after ascending the throne was land reform. Land reform has already begun in Jingzhou and Yizhou, but it is clearly unrealistic to implement land reform in Jiaozhou because it is a minority area and still practices a tribal system. Tribal leaders all have their own armed forces.
Therefore, both Zhuge Liang and Guan Xing advised Jiaozhou to postpone land reform until agricultural tools were widely available, land development was completed, and productivity was increased.
Upon hearing this, Mi Wei looked troubled and said hesitantly, "It's possible, but Your Highness, starting a business requires start-up capital. We need to hire people, build a factory, and purchase sugarcane. Start-up capital is no small amount. We're so poor right now that we're practically selling our blood. Where are we going to get that kind of money?"
"Hiss..." Liu Chan's teeth ached instantly.
He was broke and wanted to give up, but thinking of the huge profits from sugar, he gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "Give me the sugar, I'll ask my father for some, and if that doesn't work, I'll borrow some from the prime minister and my third uncle. At worst, I'll just give them shares like Anguo and Sun Luban did when they opened the textile factory. In short, I will definitely get the start-up capital. Wait for my news."
After saying that, he snatched the sugar and ran off. Halfway there, he remembered something, turned around and said, "Smash all those tools. The sugar-making technology can't be leaked for now. Even if it has to be leaked, it has to wait until I've made enough money."
His Highness the Crown Prince wanted to eat alone, so after giving his orders, he hurriedly went to find Liu Bei.
Liu Bei has been busy with two major tasks recently: bestowing titles and land reform. The bestowals on the high-ranking soldiers have been completed, but those on the middle and lower ranks have not yet been bestowed. These bestowals must be in place, otherwise it will discourage the soldiers at the bottom.
In addition, there was the land reform. This land reform went relatively smoothly because the land reform in Jiangdong had been basically completed. The Jiangdong gentry fully supported the land reform. "My land has been distributed to all of us, so what's the point of opposing it?"
The gentry of Jingzhou did oppose it, but because they had indirectly betrayed Guan Yu, their voices were no longer what they used to be, so their opposition was of little use.
In contrast, the feelings of the Yizhou gentry were more complicated. With the unification of Jiangnan, the status of the Yizhou gentry was elevated, and the elites of the clans were dispersed to various places to take up important positions. Under these circumstances, they wanted to oppose the land reform to protect their land, but they also wanted to promote the land reform as soon as possible to gain political achievements. Their feelings were quite contradictory.
Swaying left and right means they won't fight to the death; as long as Liu Bei's attitude is firm enough, they'll back down.
Therefore, the land reform was carried out very smoothly. However, Liu Bei was not an unreasonable ruler. He knew the principle of giving a reward after a punishment. While promoting the land reform, he made public the technologies of iron smelting, papermaking, and weaving, and allowed the gentry to build their own factories and exempted them from taxes for the first two years.
As soon as the news came out, all the aristocratic families who had long coveted Guan Xing's technology rushed to build factories. Who would still have the mind to go against the land reform policy?
You should know that the profits from building a factory are much higher than those from farming. Although it's not as stable as farming, at least there's no ancient behemoth like Liu Bei blocking the way.
If you want to protect your land, you have to oppose Liu Bei. But if you build a factory, you don't have that concern. Anyone with a sound mind knows which option to choose.
As land reform progressed, the common people had land to cultivate and were full of energy, while the gentry had factories to build and were no longer idle. The newly established Han Dynasty developed rapidly under the joint efforts of all social strata, and it was a scene of great prosperity.
Now, Crown Prince Liu Shan also joined in, tiptoeing into Liu Bei's tent like a thief, and smiling obsequiously at Liu Bei, who was reviewing memorials, saying, "Father, are you busy?"
Although Liu Bei had already declared himself emperor, he still couldn't get used to calling himself "Father Emperor" and continued to use his usual title in private.
Liu Bei looked up and said irritably, "Where have you been these past two days? Instead of studying, what have you been doing running around all day?"
He was still a little worried about Liu Shan and secretly vowed to supervise Liu Shan's studies and cultivate him into a wise ruler. However, there were too many things to do at the beginning of the new dynasty, and he forgot about his son again. Now he realized that he hadn't seen him for several days.
Fearing another scolding, Liu Shan cut straight to the point, handing over the bamboo tube with both hands and smiling, "Father, look what this is."
Liu Bei took it, opened it, glanced into the bamboo tube, poured some into his hand, smelled it, and said in surprise, "It smells quite good. What is this?"
Liu Shan explained, "This is white sugar, made from sugarcane after it has been processed into rock sugar. It was made by An Guo himself."
Upon hearing that it was Guan Xing's product, Liu Bei was so startled that he hurriedly threw the white sugar in his hand away, and almost dropped the bamboo tube in his other hand as well. After calming down, he said unhappily, "You didn't eat it, did you? You dare to eat his stuff?"
Thinking back to the beer incident, Liu Bei still feels lingering fear.
Liu Shan comforted him, "It's not that serious. How can you fall for it every time? I came here to discuss with you the plan to have Mi Wei go to Jiaozhou to build a factory, buy sugarcane and produce white sugar. But we're short of start-up capital. Father, can you give me some help?"