Out of gas!

What does it mean that there is no oil in the soap factory?

It means that there are no raw materials to be discontinued!

The simple three words pressed on Shi Yiwen's heart like a stone.

"How can there be no gas?"

Looking up at Li Mingdong, Shi Yiwen asked rhetorically.

After the soap was on the right track, the factory has always been managed by him, and he has also managed the factory very well.

"The oil has been taken away by others!"

Li Mingdong said directly.

"Someone else took it away, what's going on?"

"The owner, the original has always been our family's oil, which is supplied by the Song family, both butter and soybean oil, and butter and mutton fat are the cheapest, so we mainly use butter!"

Facing the owner's inquiry, Li Mingdong hurriedly said.

Butter was the cheapest in this era, perhaps the biggest difference from later generations, it was not only butter that was cheap, but even beef and mutton were the cheapest in this era. It's a third or even half cheaper than pork (1).

Because butter is cheap, it is used as the main raw material for soap production.

"The owner, all along, but all the use of oil, are flax, soybeans as the top, Su hemp, rapeseed as the second, speaking of which, only Beizhili and other places use butter, butter is inferior is not liked by the people, only a few poor people use, in fact, even if it is from our factory to use a large amount of butter, this market can also be supplied, after all, a cow can produce more than 100 catties of oil, not to mention other places, only Nanjing, the vegetable market on the day to kill a hundred and ten cows is also normal, a day of 10,000 catties of butter is always available, But ......"

Xu was a little anxious, and Li Mingdong took a breath before he said.

"You just say it directly, it's true that Nanjing has oil, but this oil has been bought by others, not only did they buy Nanjing, but even the surrounding areas of Nanjing were also bought, and they bought oil for a few months!"

"What? Who bought it? ”

"The Tang family."

As soon as Shi Yiwen's words fell, Song Qiyu's words came from the door.

"It was the people of the Tang family who bought it, and they not only bought out the butter in Nanjing, but also the butter in Yangzhou, Zhenjiang and other places."

As soon as Song Qiyu entered the house here, he said apologetically.

"Zhiyuan, my father also just learned the news, speaking of which, this is also to blame for our miscalculation, I didn't expect someone to do this, and directly bought out the grease ...... around Nanjing."

Song Qiyu's answer made Shi Yiwen frown and said.

"The Tang family? Why do they buy butter? ”

Shi Yiwen asked puzzled.

"Make soap! The peers are enemies, I have inquired, the Tang family did not know where to steal the formula of soap, so they also set up a factory, they want to buy out the raw materials, squeeze us out. ”

When mentioning the Tang family, Song Qiyu said resentfully.

"Zhiyuan didn't know, that Miss Tang has always done everything in business, and this time it must be her idea. The bottom of the kettle is drawn, and only she will be like this. ”

Hearing this, Shi Yiwen was surprised.

"Miss Tang?"

"Yes, the Tang family's current head is Tang Ziqi, the eldest lady of the Tang family, although she is young but has started a business, she is experienced and unkind, and her father is also quite a headache for her......"

It's actually a woman, and it can give Master Song a headache, this woman is not simple.

In addition to curiosity, Shi Yiwen knew that the most important thing now was to solve the production raw materials of the factory, after all, the soap factory was its own foundation.

"Ziyu, you just said that she bought out the butter for hundreds of miles around Nanjing, so what if we go to other places to buy it?"

Now for the Ming Dynasty in the Wanli period, Shi Yiwen has a certain degree of understanding, the Wanli period is not only a high degree of commercial prosperity, but also a very high level of urbanization era, in addition to the big cities with a population of more than one million such as Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, etc., the population of hundreds of thousands of cities is countless, such cities will consume a lot of meat every day, which naturally has a large amount of beef, butter as an attached product is naturally indispensable.

"Hey, Zhiyuan, you don't know, this is where she is shrewd, do you know, how did she buy it?"

With a long sigh, Song Qiyu smiled bitterly.

"She bought butter from all over the country along the river, from Nanjing to Wuchang, and down to Yangzhou. In this way, even if we want to buy from other places, the gains outweigh the losses. ”

Looking at Song Qiyu puzzled, Shi Yiwen was surprised,

"Why is that?"

"Shipping."

Li Mingdong on the side hurriedly said.

"The owner does not know, the old saying "a hundred miles do not sell wood, thousands of miles do not sell millet", although butter is not valuable, but if the road is far away, the freight is high, the cost is naturally high, to buy up to Wuchang, because of the downstream, so the freight is cheap, down to Yangzhou, because the ship from that sailing to go upstream, the freight is naturally a lot higher, calculated, the oil on both sides of the transport to Nanjing, in fact, it is also about the same, if it is farther, the thing is naturally expensive, the small one, if we buy oil from Suzhou, and then transport it to Nanjing, It is estimated that the soap made is enough at most. ”

When Li Mingdong's words fell, Song Qiyu couldn't help but sigh.

"You see, this is where Tang Ziqi is shrewd, as long as she buys all the butter in these places, we only have two choices, either stop production or increase the price. It doesn't cost much, but it forces us to this job. ”

"It's shrewd enough."

Nodding slightly, Shi Yiwen became more curious about that Miss Tang. It's rare to see a woman like this these days.

Seeing that Shi Yiwen was silent, Song Qiyu said.

"However, Zhiyuan, don't worry, my father has asked the number to send people to collect oil along the river, although the quantity is not large, it will not stop production, and next, the oil transported to the factory will not increase the price, only the cost."

"Uncle has a heart."

"Zhiyuan is polite, after all, there are also members of the Song family in this factory."

Nodding silently, Shi Yiwen didn't say anything, frowned, and said after a long time.

"It's not a long-term solution."

"Zhiyuan, don't worry, although the Tang family has bought out the local oil mill, my father already has a way to deal with it, as long as he survives the current period in front of him, at most two months, this matter will be over."

"Oh?"

Glancing at Song Qiyu, Shi Yiwen asked rhetorically.

"Uncle already has a solution?"

(1) According to the "Wanli Accounting Record", the price of beef in Wanli is 13 wen per catty in five years, and pork is 18 wen per catty. In the 20th year of Wanli, pork was 20 wen per catty and beef was 15 wen.