"Your Highness! Our Duanmu family hopes to cooperate with your sugar workshop to sell white sugar!"
As soon as Liang Xiao entered, Duanmu Xiu eagerly stepped forward, first performed a kowtow, and then spoke directly after standing up.
"Why?" Liang Xiao asked with a smile.
Duanmu Xiu said sincerely, "Our sugar workshops are all over the country and have formed mature sales channels. This will allow your highness's white sugar to sell faster and at a higher price!"
A mysterious smile appeared on Liang Xiao's face, "Last time with 'A Drunken Hundred Years', you said the same thing. However, you were secretly researching and imitating 'A Drunken Hundred Years', and even wanted to poach my workers?"
"Nonsense! Someone must be slandering us. Our Duanmu family has always adhered to business ethics!"
Liang Xiao's face fell, "Business ethics? Is it selling fake 'A Drunken Hundred Years' everywhere, or diluting it and then selling it, damaging the reputation of 'A Drunken Hundred Years'? 'A Drunken Hundred Years' is hard to sell now, and your Duanmu family is not without blame!"
Duanmu Xiu's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly defended, "How is that possible! Your Highness, who told you this??"
Liang Xiao just stared at Duanmu Xiu and sneered.
Of course, it was intelligence provided by the Chen family. Old Master Chen had no enmity with the Duanmu family. He could provide intelligence about the Duanmu family simply because he was loyal to Liang Xiao and provided all valuable intelligence to the best of his ability.
But what truly made Liang Xiao vigilant was another piece of "not entirely certain" intelligence provided by the Chen family.
There were Duanmu family personnel involved in the private salt trade in the Jiangnan region near the Heng River and Jiaozhou!
However, because that area was too far from Chuzhou, the exact number of Duanmu family personnel involved in smuggling could not be confirmed.
Moreover, the imperial court's control over Jiaozhou was weak, and its reach was limited. Jiaozhou was actually in a state of secession, making investigations difficult.
Luo Qingxue, standing behind Liang Xiao, naturally knew this intelligence. She suppressed her anger and appraised Duanmu Xiu.
Duanmu Xiu merely looked innocent and kept making excuses.
After Liang Xiao's white sugar was successfully launched and quickly gained fame, the Duanmu family felt an urgent need to act.
In the past, the common sugar in Daqian was "yitang" (饴糖), and solidified "shimi" (石蜜) made by boiling sugarcane juice under the sun, which was expensive.
Yitang was monopolized by the Duanmu family and handmade. Coupled with the relatively high price of glutinous rice and other ingredients, the Duanmu family charged exorbitant prices, exceeding 160 wen per jin, with top-grade prices reaching even 300 wen per jin.
Liang Xiao's white sugar was sweeter than yitang and easier to store, yet its price was only half that of their yitang!
The Duanmu family could imagine that once Liang Xiao's white sugar was promoted nationwide, yitang would inevitably face a price cut of half. This would be an unbearable loss for the Duanmu family!
There were only three paths before the Duanmu family.
First, imitate white sugar, research the same process, or even produce white sugar better than that from Liang Xiao's sugar workshop.
However, all of Liang Xiao's workshops were guarded by a large number of guards and supervisors, strictly prohibiting the leakage of technology. No one dared to openly provoke Liang Xiao's people. It was extremely difficult to imitate it through their own research!
Second, use the methods previously employed by the Duanmu family to discredit "A Drunken Hundred Years" in various regions. Discredit white sugar, causing the public to reject it, and thus lead to Liang Xiao's white sugar becoming unsalable.
But this method was almost impossible to work. White sugar was not a luxury item like "A Drunken Hundred Years." More people could afford white sugar. Once the public learned that white sugar was produced by the Marquis of Anguo's sugar workshop, many would be willing to try it, and the lies would eventually be exposed!
Third, cooperate with Liang Xiao, let Liang Xiao increase the price of white sugar, and make money together. This was the only feasible plan.
Liang Xiao listened to Duanmu Xiu's flowery辩白 (biànbái - explanation/defense), simply smiled, and after a long while, uttered a sentence that shattered Duanmu Xiu's fantasy.
"My wife, Qin Xian, is a beloved disciple of Qin Sheng. How could I possibly betray my own kind and ignore the many workshops of the Marquis of Dingguo's mansion in Jiangnan to cooperate with outsiders?"
Qin Xin, the captain of the female soldiers from the Marquis of Dingguo's mansion responsible for protecting Liang Xiao's female dependents, stood behind Liang Xiao with pride.
Duanmu Xiu said urgently, "The Marquis of Dingguo's mansion is in Jiangnan, and our Duanmu family can be responsible for the sales of white sugar in the northern regions! Marquis of Anguo, the quality of white sugar is better than our yitang, and it can completely sell for 200 wen per jin. This is a huge profit!"
Liang Xiao smiled, "In this way, your yitang can continue to be sold normally. A clever calculation."
Duanmu Xiu merely offered a fawning smile, "We all make money together. This is for your own good, Marquis of Anguo!"
"Crack!" Liang Xiao slammed his palm on the table, splashing tea from the cup far away.
"If you sell white sugar at that price, can the common people afford it? What I want is to sell in large quantities at low profits, not to break promises and change prices, leading to public outcry and ruining my reputation! Can't your Duanmu family's yitang lower its price?"
Duanmu Xiu was speechless. He suppressed his anger and still wanted to explain the pros and cons to Liang Xiao, but was interrupted by Liang Xiao.
"Given that you are still polite, go back and inform your father. The Anguo Sugar Workshop will open branches all over the country. If the Duanmu family does not want to lose money, prepare early, either lower prices or close shop! Of course, you can also sell your sugar workshops to me, saving me the trouble of finding locations."
In business, one naturally chooses a place with high foot traffic. The locations of the Duanmu family's various shops and workshops, after hundreds of years of selection, are all prime spots.
"Sell the sugar workshops? How can that be!" Duanmu Xiu exclaimed in surprise.
"Then there's nothing to discuss. My sugar workshop will wait for you to change your mind." Liang Xiao said impatiently, waving his hand.
No matter how Duanmu Xiu pleaded, Liang Xiao flatly refused, and finally, simply sent him away.
Duanmu Xiu, full of anger but not daring to vent it on Liang Xiao, returned home with a dark expression.
Not long after, in the main hall where Duanmu Xiu was, the doors were tightly shut. The sounds of maids' painful cries and pleas, the shattering of porcelain, and dull whipping sounds were heard. A pool of blood seeped from under the door, dyeing the steps red.
The guards were accustomed to it and merely exchanged smiles.
Their young master liked to play like this at home. They wondered which unlucky souls were suffering today.
Liang Xiao's white sugar continued to be sold at the original price, ensuring profitability while giving the common people the confidence to try it.
Yitang at 160 wen per jin, not even the best purity, and higher quality yitang starting at 200 wen, made it almost impossible for ordinary people to afford.
When Xiao Qing repurchased all the land nationwide and leased it to the people for cultivation with a high profit-sharing ratio, and then abolished the head tax, the people's living pressure would be greatly relieved, and they would have more money to spend.
By then, sugarcane would also be cultivated on a large scale, reducing the cost of white sugar from the raw material side, and white sugar could be sold even cheaper.
As the saying goes, "Predecessors plant trees for their descendants to enjoy the shade." The founding prime minister, Zhuo Mingfeng, had overridden dissenting opinions, strictly guarded the red line of official land, and proposed increasing the planting of trees and forests in various regions to facilitate the development of the emerging paper industry. Liang Xiao could not help but admire him, as he was now reaping all the benefits of the good development of the paper industry.
The personnel of the Marquis of Dingguo's mansion left by Gongsun Jing also took Liang Xiao's plan and secretly returned to Jiangnan.
Meanwhile, Ouyang Ji, who was visiting the Dugu family, and Duanmu Chao, the head of the Duanmu family, were both worried.
Ouyang Ji's voice trembled noticeably, "My brother Duanmu, does this sugar workshop opened by Liang Xiao, and the white sugar it sells, make a profit, or is it like his bookstore, losing money to gain publicity?"
As Duanmu Chao was about to explain, the housekeeper brought the news from Duanmu Xiu: "Master! Young Master was turned away. Marquis Anguo said we should prepare nationwide for our sugar workshops. Either lower the prices of yitang and shimi, or close the workshops, or simply hand them over to him..."
Everyone present was startled, "Nationwide?!"