AWB Chapter 241 Monopoly
Chapter 241 Monopoly
Chapter 241 Monopoly
Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "Brother, what are you saying? You have to understand that investment and returns are directly proportional. Without investment, where will the returns come from?"
Zhang Shize shook his head, lifted the girl off his lap, pushed her next to Wang Wenzhou, and said, "Boxin, I'll go pay the bill. You can play here by yourself. I have some things to do, so I'll be leaving now."
Wang Wenzhou asked Zhang Shize to pay because he was broke. Running a supermarket in the Ming Dynasty wasn't like in later times, where all the goods were sold on behalf of manufacturers, and payment was settled only after the goods were sold.
Wang Wenzhou wanted to open a large supermarket with a full range of goods, but the goods alone would cost a lot of money.
"No!" Wang Wenzhou quickly grabbed Zhang Shize and persuaded him, "Brother, sit down for a while and let me finish. If you don't think it's feasible, you don't have to invest any money. If you think my method is feasible, then invest money and we can make a lot of money together."
"Hmph!" Zhang Shize snorted coldly. "Silly Xiao Wu, you're getting better and better at bluffing. You want me to invest a million taels of silver in a general store? Even if you sell nothing but gold and silver jewelry, it wouldn't cost that much."
Zhang Shize slowly sat down, looked at Wang Wenzhou, and thought to himself, "Silly Xiao Wu, no matter how you try to fool me, I won't fall for it."
Wang Wenzhou thought for a moment and then said, "Brother, you've heard about the grain prices in Hanshan, haven't you?"
Zhang Shize nodded. He had heard about Xu Yingjie and his group's rampant speculation on grain prices when he went to Hanshan for the second time.
Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "Now, all the grain in Hanshan is under my control. I can sell it for whatever price I want. The price of grain in Hanshan is more than twice as high as in other places. This is the power of a monopoly. No matter what kind of commodity it is, as long as there is only one shop or merchant that can sell it, a monopoly is formed."
Zhang Shize curled his lip and said disdainfully, "Silly Xiao Wu, don't try to fool me. Don't think I don't know. It was you who ordered that the grain in Hanshan must be sold through grain merchants, which is why Xu Yingjie and the others couldn't sell their grain. Otherwise, how could you make money?"
"Hehe!" Wang Wenzhou chuckled sheepishly. His brother-in-law wasn't stupid; it seemed fooling him wouldn't be easy. But that wouldn't stop him, he was a professional conman.
“Brother, what I mean by saying this is to explain what a monopoly is,” Wang Wenzhou continued. “If our supermarket sells grain cheaper than all other grain stores in Nanjing, where would you choose to buy your grain if you were a customer?”
Zhang Shize scoffed, "Of course we'll buy it wherever it's cheapest!"
Wang Wenzhou nodded and said, "If the grain we sell in our supermarket is cheaper than the purchase price, then all customers will definitely buy grain from our supermarket. Over time, other grain stores will not be able to survive. Only our supermarket in Nanjing will sell grain, thus forming a monopoly. After that, we can raise the price of grain and make back all the money we lost before."
Zhang Shize frowned. What Wang Wenzhou said made sense. But driving all the other grain stores out of business wouldn't be something that could be done in a day or two. How much silver would they have to lose in that time? It would be a bottomless pit.
Zhang Shize shook his head and said, "If you really do that, then I'll open a grain store, buy grain from supermarkets at low prices every day, and then resell it at a slightly higher price. Although the sales volume may be small, I won't lose money! Your supermarket, on the other hand, loses money on every single grain it sells. In the long run, it's really hard to say who will go bankrupt first!"
Wang Wenzhou smiled slightly and said, "Supermarkets can sell grain at low prices and implement purchase limits, restricting the amount of grain each person can buy per day. Even if you buy it all, you can't buy much. It's really a competition of who has more capital. Those with less capital can't hold on and will go bankrupt sooner or later. That's why I asked you to invest one million taels of silver."
"Haha!" Zhang Shize laughed loudly, "Silly Xiao Wu, you're not so silly after all. If I invest one million taels of silver, will you invest one million taels?"
Wang Wenzhou scratched his head and said embarrassedly, "Brother, you don't know. I'm a little short on cash lately. Otherwise, why would I drag you into such a lucrative business?"
"Silly Xiao Wu, so you were just taking advantage of me!" Zhang Shize stood up and was about to leave.
"Big brother! Wait a minute, let me finish!" Wang Wenzhou quickly grabbed Zhang Shize.
Zhang Shize said irritably, "Silly Xiao Wu, you've been in Hanshan for over a year. You must have several million taels of silver in your hands. You're telling me you're poor and have no money?"
Wang Wenzhou said with a wry smile, "Brother, the enemy army's attack this time caused heavy casualties among the soldiers and civilians of Hanshan. I do have more than 400 million taels of silver on hand, but it's all gone when it comes to distributing pensions!"
"How many people died in Hanshan? You spent all 400 million taels of silver?" Zhang Shize asked suspiciously.
Wang Wenzhou explained: "Each hero who died in battle received 500 to 1000 taels of silver, depending on their family circumstances."
"How much?" Zhang Shize looked at Wang Wenzhou in disbelief.
“500 to 1000 taels of silver! I can’t let a hero’s family go hungry because of his death, can I? If there are elderly people in the family, the pension should be enough for them to live on in their old age, and if there are children, it should be enough for them to grow up.” Wang Wenzhou said seriously.
Zhang Shize said incredulously, "Silly Xiao Wu, don't try to fool me! You're really that kind? 500 taels of silver, an ordinary person would be lucky to earn that much in a lifetime!"
Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "Brother, I really didn't lie to you. I did this to buy horses with a fortune, so that everyone can see that as long as you follow me, even if you lose your life, I will take care of your parents in their old age and help raise your children to adulthood."
Zhang Shize suddenly frowned. Sha Xiaowu's scheme was quite ambitious! If he didn't know Sha Xiaowu's background, he would have felt that Sha Xiaowu wanted to win people's hearts and then rebel.
"Okay, then tell me, how exactly does a supermarket make money?" Zhang Shize was somewhat tempted by what Wang Wenzhou said.
Wang Wenzhou smiled slightly and said, "No matter what kind of business it is, the bigger the business, the more money you make. So, once we open a supermarket, we need to make it big enough. For example, we could buy an entire street. This street would become our Hanshan Supermarket in Nanjing..."
As Zhang Shize listened to Wang Wenzhou's account, his expression grew increasingly serious, because the more he listened, the more he felt that the supermarket could make a lot of money.
In the end, Zhang Shize was persuaded by Wang Wenzhou, and the two chose a street behind Jiangyun Tower. This was because it was a red-light district with a very high volume of people, and its proximity to the Qinhuai River made transportation convenient.
As for the task of purchasing this street, it was naturally entrusted to Zhang Shize. Although Wang Wenzhou also grew up in Nanjing, he didn't have a good reputation there. In the hearts of these nobles in Nanjing, Wang Wenzhou was still the same old Wang the Fool, or Silly Little Five.