After a "rogue annihilation war", Xi'an's commercial order was finally restored. The shops of the Shaanxi Merchant Gang and the Huanghai Merchant Gang were finally able to open their doors normally.

But the price of goods has not recovered. In addition to the extremely high price of rice, the three major merchant gangs still joined forces to reduce prices and dump goods at prices below cost. Because the Champs-Elysées is dealing in antiques, the products are quite different, and they have not been affected. But the other shops of the Shaanxi Merchant Gang are simply crowded, and almost nothing can be sold.

Li Henian and Li Zicheng couldn't sit still, so they invited Zhu Youzhen to Li's mansion to discuss countermeasures.

This is also the first time Zhu Youzhen has been a guest at the Li Mansion. Li Henian attached great importance to this meeting, and the corners and corners of the house were cleaned spotlessly, and he invited seven or eight chefs from the restaurant to cook, and even specially found a troupe to help the fun.

When Zhu Youzhen arrived accompanied by Yan Ling and others, more than 100 people from the Li Mansion had already lined up outside the mansion gate to greet them, even the female dependents were no exception, only Li Zijie did not know where to go.

After bringing Zhu Youzhen and others into the house, Li Henian ordered the banquet to start immediately, and asked the troupe to prepare to sing. Zhu Youzhen shook his head and smiled: "The old gang leader's kindness, You Mou understands it." But this big table of wine and food is enough for dozens of people to eat, but there are only a few of us, which is really too wasteful. At present, the business war has just begun, and there are still many places to use silver, so we can still save it. As for the troupe, it is even more avoidable, our time is precious, so it is advisable to talk directly about the topic. ”

When Li Henian heard this, he couldn't help but look at Zhu Youzhen even more. So they entered the inner house and sat down in a secluded study.

"Gongzi You, although there are no ruffians and hooligans to make trouble right now, there are no more patrons, how should this be?" Li Henian asked straight to the point.

Zhu Youzhen said confidently: "The three major business gangs of the other party have joined forces to reduce prices and dump at prices below cost, this trick is indeed vicious and a typical unfair competition. If we don't reduce the price, we can't sell the goods; If the price is reduced, they will continue to reduce and fight with us. The three major merchant gangs are strong, and if we follow this line of thinking, it will be difficult for us to parry, so we must find another way. ”

"Oh?" Li Henian was puzzled, "I don't know what this path is?" ”

"If the other party sells at a price lower than the cost, it must be a mess, so it can only be a temporary behavior." Zhu Youzhen followed his own train of thought and said, "What we have to do now is not to fight with them for a price, but to buy and buy all their bargains!" ”

"Huh?" Li Henian and Li Zicheng were both surprised. Of course, there are buying and selling in business, but buying goods naturally comes from suppliers, while competitors' goods, they never think about it.

"It's very difficult for the Shaanxi merchant gang to buy goods now, right?" Zhu Youzhen continued, "Probably the three major merchant gangs are secretly doing bad again, threatening suppliers not to sell goods to us. But he himself sells it lower than the supplier, why don't we pick it up when it's a big bargain? ”

Li Zicheng shook his head and said, "You Gongzi, you can't help but think simply. One is that we are in the same situation as each other, and they will never sell us goods; Second, most of the assets of the Shaanxi merchant gang are goods, but there is not much silver. Even if you barely buy it, but all of it is backlogged in your hands, and the funds cannot be turnover, isn't that a faster death? ”

"Don't worry about the first point." Zhu Youzhen said with a smile, "Of course we can't come forward directly to buy goods, as long as we go around in a circle and let the middleman come forward, or break it into pieces, they won't notice." As for the question of funding, it is the key to the success or failure of this plan. In order to win the business war in one fell swoop, You decided to take out 500,000 taels of silver as a special acquisition fund! ”

In fact, Zhu Youzhen did not reveal his true thoughts. What he actually wants is: take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the price war between the merchant gangs to establish his own strategic reserve!

Because he knows very well that if he wants to achieve great things, on the one hand, he needs to have a lot of manpower and enough elite talents; On the other hand, there must be sufficient strategic materials, which is the so-called "digging deep holes and accumulating grain".

Of course, strategic goods are not limited to food, but also include a large number of necessities such as cash, weapons, ammunition, armor, tools, and fuel. At present, Zhu Youzhen only has silver, but other materials are very short. He knew that silver would not produce any value in the storehouse, and that it had to be exchanged for useful goods and used correctly in order to produce more value. Therefore, he did not hesitate, and took out more than half of the savings of the Qin Palace.

Li Henian gasped when he heard this. Because of Li Zicheng's relationship and the financial situation of the Huanghai Business Gang, he probably knows it in his heart. He also knew that Zhu Youzhen used a large amount of money to purchase Tibetan goods, and his partners sold them to North Korea by sea, and he would not be able to return for a while.

Therefore, he would never have imagined that Zhu Youzhen could still have such a big stroke, and he would sell 500,000 taels at once!

After being stunned for a long time, Li Henian muttered: "You Gongzi is really hidden!" But with all due respect, the 500,000 taels of silver are probably not enough. The value of the goods hoarded by the three major merchant gangs is more than one million taels, to say the least. You just spend all the 500,000 taels, and the other party still has leeway. ”

"That's why we need the full cooperation of the Shaanxi Business Gang!" Zhu Youzhen said confidently, "And we are not buying all the goods, but only the necessities of life." For an expensive but not essential commodity like tea, you have to find a way to sell it in exchange for cash. Let's pool the silver again and buy rice, salt, iron, and coal with all our might. When the other party has a huge loss and is unsustainable, wouldn't it be a big profit for us to sell it at the normal price? ”

Li Henian was silent after hearing this, and he still had some doubts about Zhu Youzhen's plan.

In order to dispel his concerns, Zhu Youzhen said again: "If the old gang leader is afraid that he will not be able to fight the three major merchant gangs, the two of us can enter into a contract, and the funds used by your gang will be borrowed by You." Don't hide it from the old gang leader, You still has hundreds of thousands of taels of spare funds, which is enough to compensate for the loss of your gang! ”

Li Henian is also a big man who has been in the business world for decades, so he naturally knows the importance of this battle. If he can achieve the final victory, the three merchant gangs will collapse in Xi'an in the future, and this temptation is too great for him. Moreover, Zhu Youzhen's promise to compensate for losses also reassured him a lot.

In the end, Li Henian finally made up his mind, and laughed heroically: "Sure enough, he is a hero from ancient times, and You Gongzi is so bold!" According to what Gongzi said, let's sign a contract immediately, and in the future, Shaanxi merchants will help but the Yellow Sea merchants will be the first to help! ”

So the two sides immediately signed a contract, stipulating that the Shaanxi Merchant Gang would lend 400,000 taels of silver to the Yellow Sea Merchant Gang without interest, and that all the goods purchased would belong to the Yellow Sea Merchant Gang, and that when the goods were sold in the future, the profits earned would be divided according to the proportion of the Shaanxi Merchant Gang accounting for six and the Yellow Sea Merchant Gang accounting for four.

Both parties were satisfied with the contract. Li Henian is actually not trying to make money, as long as he can save the decline of the Shaanxi business gang. If you can hit those big business gangs by the way, it will be an additional gain.

And Zhu Youzhen saw further. As long as the strategic reserve is successfully established, it will be much more convenient to do whatever it takes in the future.

Moreover, strategic reserves also have the function of stabilizing prices, and if there are any more merchants who raise the price of rice in the future, they can sell grain in large quantities at a low price, and those unscrupulous merchants will be completely killed.

Talking about major matters, Li Henian wanted to entertain Zhu Youzhen with a high standard. Zhu Youzhen said with a smile: "There is a poem called '10,000 years is too long, seize the day'." Now that we have made up our minds, we can't delay for a moment. Is there millet porridge in the house? You and his subordinates drank a few bowls, and then rushed back to pull the silver. ”

Li Henian was still polite, but Li Zicheng persuaded with a smile: "My son has been friends with You Gongzi for a long time, and I know that You Gongzi is a person who does great things. The so-called 'those who achieve great things are not informal', You Gongzi has never been interested in things like eating and drinking. ”

Only then did Li Henian say respectfully: "The old man is embarrassed!" That being the case, I immediately asked Zicheng to take stock of the inventory in the gang and see what can be realized! ”

"Can You go with Gongzi Li?" Zhu Youzhen hurriedly said, he also wanted to take the opportunity to see the family background of the Shaanxi Business Gang.

Li Henian has been in business for many years, so he naturally knows Zhu Youzhen's intentions. But since the two sides cooperated sincerely, he was also willing to let Zhu Youzhen understand his strength, so he ordered Li Zicheng to accompany Zhu Youzhen to the account room to check the accounts of the Shaanxi merchant gang.

Zhu Youjian took a look and found that the asset structure of the Shaanxi Merchant Gang was very unreasonable, the proportion of real estate was too large, and the liquidity was stretched.

"How much silver can these houses sell?" Zhu Youzhen asked, pointing to the account book.

Li Zicheng whispered with some hesitation: "Lord Wang, these houses were just purchased by my father this year, and they cost more than 200,000 taels of silver!" But if you sell it immediately, it will be difficult to find a buyer, and it would be good to sell it for 150,000 taels of silver. ”

"It's okay!" Zhu Youzhen said with a smile, "If you sell the house, how much money you lose is mine!" When we have earned enough money, we will buy it back. ”

Li Zicheng hurriedly said: "The villain's life is given by the prince, what is this mere tens of thousands of taels of silver!" These villains find a way to fill the deficit by themselves. ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said: "Since you follow this king to do things, this king will not let you lose money!" It's rare that you keep a secret for this king, and you haven't even told the old gang leader, and the identity of this king has not been revealed until now. ”

Of course, Li Zicheng could hear that Zhu Youzhen was beating him, so he knelt down and kowtowed: "Borrow the villain's courage, and the villain will not dare to disobey the orders of the prince!" ”

Zhu Youzhen helped him up and said, "It's not that this king is too careful, it's that the stake is too big." As the saying goes, day and night defense, home thieves are difficult to prevent, your brother Li Zijie, I don't think it is the same heart with the Shaanxi Business Gang, you have to remind the old gang leader to pay more attention! Alright, you go get busy! This king also has to go back to Qinwangzhuang, how many days have he not been back! ”