Tianliangyuan

Chapter 146 The Fierce Business War

Xu Zhaozhao did not fully believe the man's vows.

In this world, relying on others is not as good as relying on yourself; trusting gold and silver is worse than trusting men!

Xu Zhaozhao doesn't care much about Cheng Yuan's matter now; she's only focused on crushing the Deng family!

If the Deng family is completely hopeless, it will be a major blow to the Jiang family.

Xu Zhaozhao should also put the paper mill on the agenda.

After so many busy days, I can finally give it a try.

Everyone thought Xu Zhaozhao was busy with corn planting, but in reality, she was using a feint to cover her tracks.

Nowadays, papermaking mainly uses rattan paper.

Xu Zhaozhao arranged for a group of people to go to Jiangnan.

There, bamboo is inexhaustible.

Of course, there are plenty of bamboos in the capital, but the south is more suitable.

Most importantly, the Deng family's largest paper mill was located in Jiangnan.

Xu Zhaozhao has always adhered to the principle that once she makes a move, she must leave no way out for her opponent. This time, cutting off the Deng family's financial resources was no exception.

The paper mills in the capital had already begun preparations; with a large quantity of paper, there was a natural need for a large quantity of books.

Xu Zhaozhao didn't need to deliberately search for resources; she only needed to find some of the books in her family's collection, have them engraved by craftsmen, and then print them in large quantities using bamboo paper.

Tsk, what follows is a major blow to the Deng family, and even to all the aristocratic families; this is just the beginning.

Now that Deng Xuan was free from official duties, he took over the household affairs and was naturally satisfied with the substantial profits brought by the paper mill.

However, now that he has lost his official position, he has to give an extra ten percent to the Jiang family, otherwise the Jiang family will no longer protect him.

If the Deng family doesn't want to be looked down upon, they still need the Jiang family as a powerful backer.

"Master, something terrible has happened!"

Deng Xuan was talking to Jiang Wenhe in the study when he saw the butler's flustered state and felt it was impolite: "This is unbecoming!"

"Master, a large number of annotated books by famous scholars have appeared outside, as well as some excellent policy essays from previous imperial examinations. They are selling like hotcakes."

Deng Xuan jumped to his feet: "Is this really true?"

"Master, I dare not lie. This, this is what I just bought from outside. Please take a look, sir."

Deng Xuan took it and examined it carefully. He felt that the handwriting was neat and tidy, and it did not look like a handwritten copy at all.

"Who copied this? The size of the characters is so well controlled."

“Sir, there are books exactly the same as this on the market, and they are sold everywhere, and they are sold at a very low price.”

"How cheap?"

"I only spent sixty coins to buy this collection of poems."

Deng Xuan's eyes widened, and Jiang Wenhe, who was standing next to him, also stood up in surprise: "How much did you say?"

Sixty coins!

The uncle and nephew were both stunned. They stared at each other, clearly unable to accept the outcome.

Although Daxing had printing technology, it was not yet widespread, and most of the books on the market were still handwritten copies.

A handwritten copy generally cost one string of cash, or one thousand coins; a printed book cost one hundred coins.

But even if this book is printed, it shouldn't only cost sixty coins, right?

This is definitely going to result in a loss!

After all, it's not just about pen and ink, but also about paper.

This paper is quite expensive.

The two touched the pages again; they felt quite good, and the ink didn't bleed. The paper was even whiter than the paper they made themselves.

The Deng family owned more than a dozen bookstores in more than twenty counties around the capital.

The sudden price reduction of so many books to sixty coins was undoubtedly a significant blow to his bookstore.

Where did you buy this?

"Besides our Deng family's bookstore, other bookstores in the capital sell these books. However, the books they sell are different. Some focus on poetry and prose, some on policy essays, and others on annotated scripts by famous authors."

Deng Xuan felt as if she had been struck by lightning!

What does "all bookstores except Deng's Bookstore" mean?

How much stock have you prepared?

"Quickly, send someone to inquire again and see how many copies they've sold!"

"Yes, sir."

The poetry collection in Deng Xuan's hand was sold in their own bookstore, and it was a handwritten copy, costing one string of cash per book.

Is it selling for sixty coins outside now?

Wouldn't they be going to lose everything?

To make their bookstore appear more sophisticated, they hired even the lowest-ranking scholars to copy books. They would pay the scholars one hundred coins for each book copied, plus their own material costs. By selling a book, they could earn at least eight hundred coins in profit.

But now, if they ignore everything and still sell it for sixty coins, they will lose at least one hundred coins per book!

What is this thing called?

A large number of books have been published, and this is just the beginning.

Soon, some scholars discovered that a cheaper type of paper had begun to appear in some bookstores.

On the market, a ream of Xuan paper normally sold costs between eighty and one hundred wen or more.

The better the quality of the paper, the more expensive it is.

Now, a type of bamboo paper is being offered in bookstores, priced at only sixty coins per ream. The paper is also quite thick, and some people have even tried it and confirmed that it does not cause ink smudges.

As a result, the sales of this newly produced bamboo paper naturally increased immediately.

Most students and scholars were from ordinary families, and even children from wealthy families would choose the cheaper paper if the price difference was twenty coins or more per ream.

After all, nobody's money grows on trees, and if there's something better and cheaper, who wouldn't want to use it?

This has had an even greater impact on the Deng family.

In just a few days, the bamboo paper became a hot seller in major bookstores in the capital. Although there were many people buying the paper, no store ever ran out of stock.

This means that since the other party has a large supply, the shopkeeper is not afraid of not having enough goods to sell!

The scholars did not stop hoarding goods because of this; who knows if the price might suddenly go up one day?

Therefore, those with some financial resources at home would buy things at exorbitant prices.

Only some impoverished families would buy just one bundle of paper, or two people would share one bundle.

Upon learning this news, Deng Xuan immediately fell ill.

He used to be an official and never got involved in these things, feeling that getting involved in such money would only lower his status.

Now I have no choice but to deal with it, but I feel like I don't know where to start.

How do we manage this?

Since the bookstore wasn't his own, he couldn't control how much others sold it for.

Since the bamboo paper wasn't produced by his own family, he didn't know the cost of papermaking for others.

It was completely dark; I knew absolutely nothing.

Even worse, just a few days later, he received an urgent letter from Jiangnan, where the impact was even greater than that on the capital!

In just half a month, the Deng family has suffered losses of over a thousand strings of cash!

After reading the letter, Deng Xuan's throat tightened for a long time but no sound came out. Then she fell backward and fainted!